Nine Months
by forbidden bliss
Summary: *ON HIATUS* For them, it was love at first fight. Edward and Bella can't seem to get along—even when their lives get thrown together and then torn apart. Can they survive it all or will they end up killing each other?
1. Preface

**So my second story...ta da! Here's the preface...if I get a good response I'll post the 1st chapter on Sat to get the ball rollin'. Enjoyyy**

**Preface**

EPOV

*

It's official. I'm out of my fucking mind.

Insane. Loopy. Completely off the deep end.

Because I was standing on the side walk of a string of buildings at two thirty in the morning while it's below freezing and raining, getting completely fucking soaked while I look like a moron.

The fact that my feet led me _here_ of all places was what annoyed me. And the fact that the two of us had just ripped each other a new one and gone for each others jugulars less than three hours ago and now I was outside of her apartment that I detested so passionately.

Just standing out there and starring up at the windows like I could fucking see something. Which I couldn't.

Not really knowing what I was doing, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the contacts until I found the one I was looking for. I didn't even hesitate to push the call button and bring the phone up to my ear.

It rang three times before she answered.

"What the hell do you want?" she hissed.

I probably should have winced but I was so used to it by now.

"You home?" I asked.

"What's it to you?"

"Are you fucking home?"

"Yes." She sighed into the phone.

"Can…" I hesitated. "Can I come up?"

"Give me one reason why," she drawled.

"Give me one reason why not," I countered.

She sighed again and she sniffed and fuck it—I needed to get upstairs.

"Buzz me up, please." I tilted my head back up and squinted to see if she was standing at her window staring down at me. "Are you looking at me?"

"Yes."

"Let me up."

"No, Edward."

I sighed. "Please, Bella…just…" I cracked my neck. "Just talk to me, okay?"

"I don't want to talk to you, asshole."

I sat on her front steps and held the phone between my ear and my shoulder. "If you didn't you wouldn't have answered." I picked at the dirt under my fingernails and tried again. "Buzz me up."

There was silence on her end. Either she hung up or I was breaking her.

"Bella? Please. Let me help…" I whined.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Yeah, okay," I rolled my eyes. "That's definitely why you got a phone call or something at my apartment and burst into tears and left without saying goodbye."

"I never say goodbye to you."

"Which is rude, by the way," I informed her.

She groaned. "How long are you going to sit on my porch if I don't let you in?"

I contemplated this, and then shrugged even though she couldn't see me. "I dunno. It's raining, so I have an increased chance of getting phenomena or some shit like that."

She sighed again and it sounded so strained and frustrated and…lost.

"I just want to be by myself, Edward."

"That's bullshit. Alice is up there," I told her.

"No, actually Alice and Jasper aren't here. They were going to a movie and sleeping at your place." She moved something around in her room. "Why are _you_ here?"

I huffed into the phone. "I just…" I didn't know how to answer her. I wanted to wring her neck partially for making me feel like I _needed _to come out here, but really a bigger part of me needed to know she was okay. When she had left the apartment it was fucking scary with how quickly her mood changed. One text and suddenly she's got tears in her eyes and she's storming out of the room like she'd seen a ghost.

Weird shit.

"I want to make sure you're okay." I settled on. It was normal enough, right? _Eh, not really. This _is _Bella you're talking about._

She didn't say anything for a moment. I knew she was still on the phone because I could hear her breathing picking up and coming out in short pants. I felt my heart jump in my throat and I heard her sniff again.

"Bella—"

"Fine."

I blinked in surprise, and then heard the familiar buzz of the front door unlocking. I jumped up and quickly walked up the stairs to the elevator to make my way up to her floor.

Once I was at her door she wrenched it open before I could even knock. And the sight of her left me breathless—in a bad way.

"What the fuck happened to you?" I hissed, pushing her back inside her apartment.

She was a fucking mess; her hair was all over the place, she had tears streaming down her face, her lips were swollen and her lower lip was quivering, and she was sobbing while I was just standing there, starring at her.

She couldn't speak. She was just sobbing hysterically.

"Bella!" I said frantically. I took her shoulders and shook her a little but she didn't say anything. She shook her head and put it in my chest and wrapped her little arms around me and held on for dear life.

"Shh…" I had no fucking clue what to do. Keeping one arm wrapped around her, I pulled out my phone and dialed Jasper's cell.

A very groggy Jasper answered with a strained, "What the fuck, Cullen."

"Get Alice," I barked into the phone, rubbing Bella's back. "Something's wrong with Bella."

**

**Should I continue it? I have a few chapter written, so just let me know :)**


	2. Something Unexpected

It's a little after I promised, but come on…I suck with deadlines. Your response has blown me away. Really, you guys are great :)

For all of you who were worried about Bella getting pregnant—just read the first few lines of this chapter.

Enjoy :)

I own nothing. Seriously, nothing.

*

**Ch 1—Something Unexpected**

**BPOV**

"Check it again."

I shook my head and sighed, turning away from Alice's shrinking form against the bathtub towards the counter to check the stick resting there.

"It says the same thing it did five minutes ago."

"That can't be right. They all can't be positive."

I picked up an unopened box and tossed it in my hands, skimming the instructions. "Let me try one."

"Okay. I'll do another."

I tore the cardboard box at one end, dumping the dreaded test in my hand. I walked to the toilet, pulling my jeans and panties off and proceeded to pee on the stick. Alice did the same, setting her test next to the sink before backing away from it like it was a bomb.

"Now what?" I asked, laying it on the counter next to hers and zipping up my pants.

Alice clasped her hands together at the edge of the tub, not staring at me but at the test I just took. "Now we wait."

So I sat down next to her, copying her position to a tee, and waited.

Less than a minute later I was impatient. I already knew the result of the test, because it _had _to be negative, because—well…I hadn't gotten laid in at least four months and I just had my period last week. But still, the waiting was driving me nuts.

"How much longer?" I asked, annoyed.

She hushed me, but didn't answer. I huffed at her and turned to look out her little window over the toilet seat.

After what seemed like all eternity, Alice rose from the tub and offered her hand to me. "It's time."

It sounded like we were living in Final Destination or some shit like that.

I rolled my eyes at her and stood up, pushing past her and just grabbing the first test my hand came into contact with. I looked down at it, seeing a huge plus sign starring back at me from the screen. I felt my chest heave. "What the fuck," I breathed. "No, no, no, no, noooo. That's impossible."

Alice held the other one in her hand with a grim expression on her face. Very gingerly, she took the one from my hand and replaced it with the one she had been holding. "You picked up the wrong one."

"Oh thank God." I felt myself smile before I could stop it and then froze, because Alice's eyes were welling up in tears and her face was breaking my heart. "Oh, Alice…" She just smiled, somehow, seeing how her lips were white and in a line, and shook her head.

"No, no. It's fine."

"Alice—"

"Bella, please, not now. Okay?"

I nodded, because I didn't know what I was supposed to do.

We used to joke about this when we were younger—which one of us would get married or knocked up before twenty-five; she was to get married, I was to get knocked up.

Who would have guessed it'd turn out like this?

Sobs were ripping from her chest as she sunk to the tile floor, tears flowing freely over her cheeks. "B-Bellaaa," she wailed, "what a-am I-I supposed to d-do?"

I sat down next to her, trying to hold her pixie frame to my body so I could try to comfort her. "You do whatever you need to do," I whispered to her. I stroked her spiky hair as she ruined my shirt with her tears.

"Whatever the fuck that means," she sneered, pulling away and wiping her face off with the back of her hand. "How the fuck did this happen."

"Well, Alice, when a man and a woman like each other—"

"Rhetorical question, Einstein."

"Okay, okay." I thought for a moment before starring into her eyes. "Regardless of what you decide to do, you need to tell the dad."

She winced at the word _dad_.

"Who's the dad, Alice?" I arched an eyebrow at her.

"It's…it's…"

"You don't know who it is?"

"Of course I do. If you'd shut up I'd tell you."

"Sorry."

She ripped some toilet paper from the holder and blew her nose into it before turning back to me. "Do you remember the Halloween party I dragged you to?"

I nodded. Alice had forced me to dress up as Snow White in a hideously short skirt that puffed out and stopped just short of revealing my ass cheeks to the world. She also had forced me to walking around with a bright red apple all night, saying it was the "ultimate accessory".

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Remember when you couldn't find me for about an hour or so and were about to leave?"

I nodded, seeing some of the puzzle fit together. "Yeah…"

She fidgeted and didn't meet my gaze. "Well, I was with someone that night."

"Mary Alice Brandon!"

She just sighed. Not a word to try and scold me for using her full name or anything.

Weird.

"Who is it?"

"Jasper Hale."

"Who?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "He's a junior."

I stood from the tile and walked back into her bedroom. "Like that makes such a difference."

She followed me but hesitated in the doorway, biting her lower lip. I sat on her bed to face her, feeling guilt sweep over me. "Sorry, I just…" I cleared my throat. "Are you positive it's him?"

She nodded. "I haven't been with anyone since. And before him…well let's just say I was having a dry spell."

I nodded, totally understanding what she meant by a dry spell.

"Oh God, Bella, what do I do? I actually like this guy."

"Have you hung out with him sober?"

She hung her head in her hands. "No, but we've been texting."

I rolled my eyes. _Texting. Douchebag can't even make a phone call. He's a keeper._ I wasn't sure how that would roll over her, so went a different route. "What was he at the party?"

She blinked blankly. "Excuse me?"

"Costume, Alice."

"Oh!" She tried fighting off the grin on her face. "He was a Greek God."

_How fitting. Of course they're costumes would have matched._

"We struck up conversation really easily, seeing how we were dressed as the same thing. We starting joking about how I was his Greek Goddess, and he was my Greek God," she mumbled on, smiling.

"Next thing I knew, we were touching. Not like sexually, but just simple stuff. He touched my arm, my hand, my cheek—sweet stuff. And the alcohol was really flowing and then I don't know."

I vaguely remembered a blonde dude walking around in a toga type thing trying to whack people with his sword. "I remember him."

"Oh Bella," she swooned. "He was great. Not to mention he was absolutely gorgeous, but oh my God he was funny. Not in your annoying sarcastic humor," she piped at me. "But in honest to God piss your pants kind of humor. And I don't know, he just seemed special from the moment I saw him I felt connected."

"Alice…" I fell backwards on to the bed, pushing the heel of my hands into my eyes.

"You remember that night, right?"

_Oh, did I ever._

***

_**Five Weeks Earlier—Halloween**_

"_Just one more round if your down I'm for it, fill another cup up, feeling on your but what, you don't even care now, I was unaware of how fine you was before my buzz set in, my buzz set in." _Jamie Fox blared through the speakers of the small apartment party that was way past the maximum capacity. "_Blame it on the goose, gotcha feeling loose. Blame it on the 'tron, gotcha panties off. Blame it on the ah-ah-ah alcohol."_

No truer words were ever spoken in a rap song before now.

I swirled the contents of my solo cup around, watching the red punch slosh. This was boring. I'd had at least three of these cups in the past hour and didn't feel shit. Despite my sobriety, everyone else at the party seemed completely smashed. Fuckers.

I felt stupid. Here I was standing at some random college kids Halloween party, in their butlers pantry, watching drunk people grind up on each other while they screamed and yelled, "_What you been missing in your li-ah-ah-ife when I get insi-ah-ah-de_," dressed as Snow White. Where were my loyal seven dwarfs when I needed them?

I tossed my apple up in the air a few times before I brought it to my lips and took a bite out of it. I chewed thoughtfully, trying to remember the last time I had seen Alice. I last got a glimpse of her laughing her ass off with some half naked blonde guy with a sword.

Figures.

I took another bite. I knew a few people here besides Alice but for some reason I didn't feel like socializing. Angela was latched around Ben's waist twenty four seven, all Jessica could talk about was how _amazing _Mike was in bed, and Lauren was just a fucking bitch I could care less about. I wanted to tell Alice I was leaving, but since my costume had no pockets and apparently a purse would have "clashed" I was left without a way of contacting her.

Hence why I wanted to _find _her.

I took another bite of the apple, not really hungry; I was bored more than anything.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead by now?"

I jumped, dropping the apple to the floor. A guy, over six feet, was standing on my right leaning against the door frame dressed in a Zorro costume. This dude went all out—he had the hat, the mask, the clothes, sword—everything but that stupid mustache.

"Excuse me?"

He chuckled and picked up the apple. "The apple's poisoned, right? Forgive me; it's been a while since I've seen any Disney animation."

I rolled my eyes at the velvety voice. "Yes, it's poisoned."

He tossed it in the air. "They why aren't you dead?"

I snatched it away from him. "It doesn't kill her; it just puts her to sleep."

"Oh really?" he asked, taking a step towards me.

"Yeah," I said matter-of-factly, but I was beginning to be aware of how small this little corridor really was.

"Then why aren't you asleep?"

"Because I don't want pervs like you to molest me in my sleep."

His reaction surprised me; most guys would have taken that as a hint to run the other way. This guy just sported a crooked grin and leaned against the wall across from me.

"Nah, I wouldn't."

"So you're not denying you're a perv?"

He looked at me curiously before shrugging. "I do what I can."

"Of course," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"Tell me how Snow White ends. I can't remember."

I stared at this guy. He was obviously drunk, and from what I could tell he looked attractive. I couldn't see much of anything though, except green eyes and a small sliver of a well defined chest peeking out from underneath his shirt. He was keeping up with me verbally so I decided to just push the sarcasm away for two minutes and actually talk to the guy.

"She wakes up from her sleep when she gets kissed by her true love," I told him.

"True love, eh?" he grinned and giggled, obviously amused with something going on in that head of his.

"Yes." I turned my head and looked back out at the party. _Two minutes up._ Where the fuck was Alice?

"What's your name?" the guy asked, setting down his solo cup on the counter next to mine.

"Snow White," I said dryly.

His green eyes twinkled from behind his black mask, making my heart accelerate. _Whoa._ "Snow White…hmm." His eyes silently appraised me, running down the length of my scantily clad body, resting on the hemline of my short skirt. "Nice to meet you. I'm Zorro."

"Original."

"Thanks." He actually took it as a compliment. "Why are you here all by yourself?"

"I'm not in a partying mood right now."

"Jesus, you should have dressed as Grumpy tonight. I can see that. Why?" I shrugged and flicked him off. He shook his head and shifted his hat, but not enough for me to see any hair. "What are you drinking?"

I looked over my shoulder to my cup. "Punch."

Zorro smirked. "No wonder you're not having fun. Emmett made the punch—it's weak as shit. Come on. I'll make you a real drink."

He outstretched his hand towards me. I stared at it for a moment, then sighed and took it, because whatever was behind his mask was probably more entertaining and more intriguing than the butler's pantry.

As I my hand rested in his, I felt a spark of electricity shook from my fingertips down to my toes. Our eyes snapped to each other and I saw his lips part slightly, silently acknowledging that he felt it too. Whatever "it" was.

Slowly, he smirked again, and tugged me into the kitchen.

He pushed past a crowd of people before fighting off girls that were trying to cling to him. A strawberry blonde dressed up as Dorothy threw her arms around his neck and he frowned at her. She whispered something into his ear that caused him to roll his eyes and push her away while still holding my hand.

I smiled a little at that.

We made our way to the sink where he grabbed two new cups and filled them both with ice. He then turned to me and grinned, "Pick your poison."

"Funny," I drawled. "What is there?"

He shrugged. "I try. We have vodka, tequila, and gin."

"Gin," I grumbled.

"Nice choice," he said, before pouring an extremely generous amount in both cups. I hopped up on the counter to watch him maneuver around the small space. He continued making some sort of concoction in the cups, adding various ingredients from the fridge, and I some stuff from the cabinets too. I was almost too scared to ask him what it was.

"Taste," he ordered, shoving the cup into my hands.

I took a sip and gagged. "This is awful," I choked out.

He sighed. "Of course it is. It two thirds gin. Here, add this." He pulled a carton of pineapple juice out of the fridge and filled the cup to the brim with it. He stuck a plastic knife into the cup, stirred it once before motioning me to take another sip.

I complied, but didn't gag this time. It was a lot better, surprisingly. "It's drinkable."

He grinned, stirring his own cup. "Drink two of those and you'll lighten up—if you're lucky I'll revoke your nickname of Grumpy and rename you something better."

I took another sip. "Like what, Happy?"

He took a sip of his drink, pursed his lips and then shook his head. "Nah. I was thinking Bashful."

I blushed, feeling the heat sweep from my cheeks and down my neck.

"Ah," he noted. Zorro cocked his head to the side and watched me. "That just further proves I was correct."

I didn't know what to say so I just took another sip. Almost instantly I could feel the alcohol working into my system, making my legs and arms tingle. "Hmmm," I responded.

He placed his hand near my bare leg on the counter and leaned on it. "So I have a sword," he told me.

I crossed my ankles and looked down at the piece of plastic at his hip. "So it seems."

"Do you want to see if I can cut your clothes off with it?"

I frowned at him and arched an eyebrow. "If I had twenty years to wait around for that, then sure."

He glanced down at his side and smiled. "You're probably right."

"So, Zorro, you said your friend Emmett made the punch? Does he live here?" I wanted to know who to pity when they had to clean this mess up in the morning.

"Mmm, no. I do."

"Oh."

We were silent for a minute, before he moved away and returned with two shot glasses. He pulled out the tequila and filled them with the amber liquid. "Cheers," he said as he put one in my hand.

"Cheers," I murmured, throwing it down my throat. It burned, but it was welcomed.

We both finished our drinks. My head was slightly muggy now, the alcohol finally all kicking in at the same time.

Zorro looked up at me with those fucking bright green eyes and smirked at me. "Want to see my room?"

I probably should have walked away; I should have politely declined, said "no thank you", and stayed out in the party and found Alice and left. But there was something about him; he was quick and he seemed funny and hell he was kind of intriguing because he was wearing a mask and I couldn't just fucking say no.

So, I did what any smart girl who had been having a dry spell would do—I nodded and smiled at him.

He clutched my hand and helped me off the bar. We wound through the sea of people again but suddenly a hand came out of flipping no where and latched onto his wrist.

A blonde—not just a blonde but a freaking drop dead gorgeous blonde with a tiny waist and big boobs in a nurse costume—was holding on to him and looking at him expectantly. He rolled his eyes at her, reached in and kissed her cheek. "Go find your surgeon, Rose."

She narrowed her eyes at me before turning on her red heels and walking in the other direction. Zorro tugged on my arm. "This way."

We were in his room with the door shut and locked with no lights on except the dim glow of his bedside table. I wandered farther into his room and sat on the edge of his bed, turning to him expectantly and licking my lips in anticipation. _Come and get me, Zorro._

"So, this is it," he gestured to the space. I giggled and nodded in approval.

"It's nice," I amended. It really wasn't bad…if you could get past the bong in the corner and the various posters of half naked girls.

He sat down on the bed next to me and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, it's alright." He rubbed the back of his next and looked up at me. "Come here," he whispered before pinning me on the bed and pushing his lips to mine.

Zorro's lips were warm and wet and amazing. Sparks were igniting under his finger tips as he cupped and cradled my face or as he hitched my leg around his waist and ground his crotch against mine.

His tongue slipped against my bottom lip, making me gasp as I felt him enter my mouth. He tasted like gin, pineapple juice, and cigarettes. Suddenly I was craving more of it. We fought for a few minutes, both of us wanting dominance but neither of us getting it.

He broke the kiss, because he was coherent enough to remember he needed air, and started to kiss down my jaw to my neck. I moaned, bucking my hips up towards him.

_Goodbye, dry spell._

His tongue darted out from between his lips to taste my skin. I groaned, fisting my hand into his hair, knocking his hat off of his head. He nipped and sucked and licked my entire left side of my neck before moving to repeat it on the right side.

"Oh God," I moaned, hitching my other leg around his hip and locking my ankles behind his waist.

"Mmm," he hummed in satisfaction, giving the bottom of my neck a slight bite.

He ground his hips into my core, making me cry out in frustration. I wanted this—_him—_right now. I could feel heat building up in my lower stomach and feeling his huge bulge from beneath his flimsy pants was enough to make me panting for more.

He ran one of his hands from my knee up to my thigh. I though he might just grab on to my hip and thrust against me again, but instead he slid his hands to my inner thigh and kept working upwards.

Zorro pulled his lips from my body to look me in the eyes. He was looking for the go ahead; that I wanted him to continue.

I didn't answer him. Instead, I pulled at the strings of his shirt, effectively ripping them off and exposing his amazingly sculpted chest to me.

He smirked, pulling his arms out of the limp fabric, before returning his hands to their earlier positions; his left hand on my ass cheek and his right now nestled right between my thighs.

Very slowly, he ran a finger up my wet folds through my panties. I gasped and bucked towards him, only making his smirk intensify. "You like that?" his voice was low and kind of strained.

I whimpered, meeting his eyes and nodding. He did it a few more times, each time adding more pressure, as he maintained eye contact with me. "Please," I moaned.

That's all he needed, apparently. He slipped his finger below the wet lace and continued on his journey until he was met with bare skin and moisture. He froze as his finger circled around my entrance, just two millimeters from my clit. "Holy _fuck," _he groaned. He lightly put his finger where I wanted him most and made lazy circles, letting me soak his finger with my arousal. "You're fucking soaked for me."

I bucked my hips up towards his hand, causing him to slip in a little. "Please…"

"Please what?" he asked, slipping his finger in slightly and then pulling it out. "Please…I want you to fuck me?"

I didn't say anything; I just moaned trying to get him to slide into me again. _That's what happens when you don't have sex for months, Bella. Gah._

"How do you want me to fuck you?" he growled, just creating more tension instead of relieving any. "Which way do you want first?"

I moaned, my fingers gripping the boys sheets so tightly my knuckles were probably white.

Then two things happened at once; the bedroom door burst open with two stumbling people making out just as he shoved two of his fingers forcefully into me.

I moaned and shrieked at the same time. Immediately Zorro's hands left my body as he stood up. "Get the fuck out!" he yelled. Without another word, he shoved the couple out of his door and locked it back. Slowly he turned back to me, with one hand buried into his hair, grinning sheepishly.

"Uh, sorry about that…"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. Now that he wasn't a foot within my reach, I could think more clearly. "It's okay…"

He walked back to me and climbed back on top of me, not returning his hands to where they were before, instead winding one around my waist and the other by my head to hold himself up as he lowered his lips to mine.

We kissed again, and the longer we kissed the harder to think rationally. His lips were traveling again, down my neck, to my shoulder, down to the hemline of my costume…

As he licked and sucked at my collar bone, I froze. All alcohol forgotten, I realized that I knew nothing about this guy except that I liked him _so _much better when his mouth was shut. I knew he was roughly six foot two, had green eyes, and obviously isn't a frequent contestant in Disney Trivia.

I didn't even know his name. Or his hair color, for that matter. If those drunks hadn't stumbled into the room I'd probably be fucking this guy that I knew absolutely _nothing_ about. _Oh my God, Bella._

I groaned, pushing my hands against his shoulders to get him off of me. Zorro pulled back, thick but sculpted eyebrows shooting out over the top of the mask in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"I can't do this."

"What? Why not?" he asked, his voice thick with lust.

I shook my head and looked at him but got distracted by his very obvious and very large bulge in his black pants. I had to tear my eyes away. _Stop Bella, bad Bella._

"Sorry," I apologized, straightening my dress as I made my way for the door.

"What the fuck," I heard him hiss and then a sound of him hitting the mattress with his fist. "Wait!" he yelled before I could even turn the knob. His hand shot out and he smacked his palm against the wood, keeping me from opening it. "Tell me your name."

I arched an eyebrow and tried to stop the sway that I knew was about to happen. I steadied my hand on the door knob, shaking my head. "Why?"

"I want to know it."

"What if I don't want you to know it?"

He sighed, tugging on his hair. It was too dark in his room to see what color it was, besides that it was dark. "So you'll let me ram my tongue down your throat and shove my fingers into your pussy, but you won't tell me your name."

I rolled my eyes and tried to jiggle the door free from his grasp. He didn't budge—in fact he just pushed against it harder. "Tell me," he ordered.

I turned to him and placed my hand on his arm. His eyes widened slightly and I could see his eyebrows shoot up from over the top of his mask. Slowly, his arm seemed to melt and it fell from the door as I clutched it within my hands. His lips parted slightly as I could hear his breathing hitch while he watched me.

I placed my hands on his bare chest, and leaned in to him. Feeling bold, I brushed my lips against his ever so lightly in the type of kiss that would make him wonder if it actually happened later, and whispered into his ear, "I'll be listed under Snow White," I cooed.

Before he could even blink, I turned the knob and let myself out, breathing a sigh of relief as I re-entered the party, despite the fact that my skin was still tingling from his touch. It wasn't that I didn't want to hook up with the guy later on—I did. But the fact was that if he was a crazy, I didn't want him stalking me all over campus for the next year. It's happened before.

Alice ran into me. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you—where were you?" She must have noticed my lips were swollen and that my hair was disheveled.

"Nowhere. Can we go?"

"Yeah, leaving."

***

_**Present**_

"Bella?"

Alice drug me from my reminiscent of my almost hook up. I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. "Yeah, sorry." I cleared my throat, forcing a smile at her. "I remember that night."

_All too well._

_Shut up. You did the right thing._

_But you could have gotten _laid_. How is _that_ not the right thing?_

I shook my head to get the voices out. Alice was looking at me curiously with tears streaked down her face. "So…" I stared. "What now?"

She sat up against her headboard, clutching a pillow to her chest. "I guess we go tell him."

"_We?"_

"Bella!"

"I'm sorry, Al, but since when are _we_ pregnant?"

She looked down at her lap with her bottom lip jutted out. "Okay…I guess I'll go…by myself…alone…with no moral support of my best friend…"

I groaned and reached out to smack her with a pillow. "Shut up. I'll go." I paused. "What do I have to do exactly?"

"It'll be fine, Bells. I'll go and talk to him privately once we meet him, I just want you there so I have the courage to say everything without breaking down into tears."

"Oh, Alice…" I pulled myself up next to her and leaned against her tiny frame. "Then we make you an appointment with the obstetrician so they can run an actual test, right?"

She nodded and sniffed, pushing her black hair out of her face. "Okay, when are we going to do this?"

"The sooner the better, I would guess."

She nodded again without looking at me. "Yeah, I think so too. Let me call him…" She flipped open her phone and scrolled down her contacts until the highlight rested on _Jasper Hale._ Her thumb hesitated over the call button for half a second before she sighed and pressed it down. Slowly, she brought the phone to her ear.

I don't think she was breathing.

After a few rings, someone answered. She let out the breath she had been holding and started speaking quickly. "Hey, Jasper? It's Alice." There was a pause. I could hear a deep voice coming from the speaker at her ear and whatever he was saying put a small smile on her face. "I'm doing great, thank you. How are you?" She giggled and blushed slightly. I rolled my eyes at her, nudging her with my elbow. She nodded and furrowed her brows together. "Hey, Jazz? Can we meet up sometime today? I need to talk to you."

"What? Okay, yeah your place is fine." She paused, grabbing a pen and pulling my arm out to write _538 _on the inside of my forearm. "Got it. See you later. Bye."

I looked down at the number on my arm and then back to her. "Was this necessary?"

"Yes. Go shower, we're going over to his place in forty minutes."

"His place?" My heart accelerated slightly. Was his roommate going to be there? The _Zorro_ dude_?_

_Stop being pathetic._

"Yeah. Apparently he's already studying for finals and he asked if that was okay." She put her hands on her little hips and cocked an eyebrow at me. "Why?"

I shrugged and rose from the bed. "No reason." _Yeah, right._

***

We entered the apartment building about ten minutes later than Alice said we'd be there. The apartment complex wasn't bad—but it wasn't nice either. It wasn't run down but there were much better complex's that were around the same price. Alice crinkled her nose in disapproval.

Walking down the hallway on the third floor, Alice stopped when we rounded the corner. "Is this it?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said nonchalantly. "You've been here before, remember?"

"I was highly intoxicated." I glanced at the numerous trash bags surrounding the hallway, waiting to be taken to the curb. "Gross." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "I feel like I'm going to walk away from this with herpes."

"Just keep your bodily fluids to yourself and you'll be fine. Remember that's what got me into this mess in the first place."

I almost opened her mouth to tell her how _close_ I had gotten to exchanging bodily fluids in this apartment at the same time she did, but I refrained. Instead I nodded and said, "Gotcha."

She bit her bottom lip roughly as we both stood in front of the door, neither of us making any effort to move forward. Alice suddenly turned to me, breathing fast.

"Forget it—let's leave." She spun around on her heel, trying to get away. I groaned, grabbing the back of her jacket and yanked her back to stand next to me.

"Fuck that. You dragged me here. You're going through with this." I rolled my eyes and turned back to the door taking a deep breath.

"Okay," she breathed, "let's do this."

Hesitantly, I raised my arm to knock against the door.

It was quiet for a few moments. We listened carefully for footsteps, music, screaming, _anything_, but nothing was emerging from the apartment. "Maybe no one's home…" I thought aloud.

I knocked again, harder and louder this time.

"I'm coming! Jesus Christ!" someone yelled from behind the door.

Alice and I exchanged a nervous glance before looking back to the door.

Suddenly, the front door was yanked open to reveal a man standing in a towel low on his hips, his hair dripping wet with water droplets still on his body. His hair was the most unique shade of dark brown with red in it, and I couldn't help wonder what it would look like dry. His chest was completely sculpted to perfection, with well defined pecks, his abs so defined that it was more than a six pack but not quiet an eight pack, and the most dangerous deep V that disappeared down into his towel. I licked my lips, noticing the slight dark happy trail that also disappeared below the towel.

I wanted to reach out and yank it off.

"Can I help you?" he growled at Alice, not even noticing me.

"Um, yes, you can. I'm here to see Jasper. Is he home?" she asked sweetly. She had the ability to melt anyone.

I let my eyes wander back up his chest to over his broad shoulders and his toned biceps, watching how his forearm flexed as he gripped the door knob with too much force. He had the build of a swimmer—long and lean, perfectly toned and sculpted without being over the top.

His face was perfection—if that can even exist on a man. Thick, but defined, dark eyebrows with the most amazingly full pink lips that just fell into this natural pout, an incredibly chiseled jaw line and the greenest eyes I'd ever seen.

It was mesmerizing. _He_ was mesmerizing. I wanted to lick every inch of him.

"Oh," he said, his tone considerably softer. "Sorry, yeah. Sure." He moved out of our way, not before looking over at me first. His green eyes widened and his lips parted in surprise. And that's when it hit me.

Green eyes. Zorro had green eyes.

Zorro, Alice's baby daddy's roommate, was this God standing in front of me.

_Dear God, why did I not give him my name? Bella. Bella Swan. How hard is that?_

I forced a small smile, trying to be polite. _Hell he probably doesn't even remember you. He was smashed._

But then he whispered, "Snow White," so softly, I don't think Alice heard him. But I did. I felt blush rise up to my cheeks and I bit my lower lip nervously.

Snapping out of his trance, he shook his head and snapped his jaw shut, clenching it tightly. He looked back and forth between us, before glaring at me pointedly, and then slamming the door shut in our faces.

Alice's jaw dropped at the closed door before turning to me. "What the fuck was that?" I shrugged at her as she banged on the door with her fist.

"JASPER, GO GET THE FUCKING DOOR!" naked man's deep voice bellowed through the apartment.

We heard a shuffle of feet and some kind of thud, and then the door opened again, revealing a blonde guy with glasses on top of his head with some serious dark circles under his eyes. "Alice! Hey! Sorry about Edward…I don't know what's up his ass today." His eyes landed on me. "Hi, I'm Jasper," he crooned, extending his hand towards me.

"Bella," I told him, shaking his hand with mine. "It's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine," he smirked, pulling Alice into a small hug. Alice just beamed up at him, probably forgetting why we came over here in the first place. "Please, come in."

We followed him into the apartment. I had to admit it seemed a lot bigger and cleaner now that it was inhabited by dozens of drunken bodies. We all sat down in the living room in an awkward silence, twiddling our thumbs.

Jasper looked kind of uncomfortable so I nudged Alice from next to me. She took the hint and rose from the couch. Jasper, being a gentleman, rose when she did. "Jasper, can I speak with you? Privately?" she added, nodding in the direction of his room.

"Sure, sure." He glanced down at me, forcing a tight smile. "Help yourself to anything, Bella. We'll only be a moment."

I nodded, leaning back into the plush leather couch, watching them disappear behind the closed door. I sighed, looking around the room, noticing details that I couldn't when I was at the party.

I stood and walked over to the fire place, noticing all the pictures on the mantle. There was Jasper, _Edward_, and another guy, some burly football player looking dude with their arms thrown over each other laughing. Another picture was of the football player with his arms around a gorgeous blonde, kissing and smiling, wrapped up in each other. A few others that looked like family portraits, and then one of Jasper holding the same blonde girl princess style, both laughing hysterically.

I ran my fingers along the last picture; the three guys and a few girls on their shoulders. The blonde girl was on Edward's shoulders in a bikini with her hands tangled in that bronze mop of hair. Edward was grinning, but it was slightly crooked to one side, clad in only swim trunks and aviators covering his eyes with his hands on her thighs to steady her. It donned on me that everyone in the picture was wearing a bathing suit and the beach was in the background.

"That was last years spring break," a voice behind me murmured.

I jumped and heard a velvety chuckle. I turned to see Edward standing barefoot in jeans in a t-shirt, with his hair still wet. His green eyes snapped to mine and he smiled at me.

"Edward. Edward Cullen," he said, extending his hand.

I smirked, taking it. The familiar jolt traveled through us _again_ as we both looked stunned at it. "Bella Swan," I breathed out.

His grin only grew. "Sorry about that," he gestured to the door sheepishly. "I uh…I was just a little surprised."

I nodded, feeling kind of silly that I had gotten worked up. "It's fine. I was a little surprised too…"

He nodded back at me. "So what brings you and your midget friend here?"

I scowled at him. "She is not a midget."

He padded into the kitchen and reached into the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water. He took a long swig before responding to me. "She's less than five feet tall. That makes her a midget in at least, what, forty-seven states?"

I put my hands on my hips and cocked them to the side. "Actually, the technical height for midgets in the US is four foot ten. She's is four eleven."

He shrugged and took another sip. "Same difference."

"No, it's not."

"Oooh, one inch. Makes a world of difference. My apologies."

"You don't have to be a dick."

He leaned against the counter, narrowing his eyes at me from across the room. "I'm not being one." He tilted the water bottle towards me. "Thirsty?"

I furrowed my brows and shook my head. "No thanks." I sighed in frustration. "All I was trying to do was pull your head out of your ass."

"And look where that got you. Did it cross your mind that's where my head likes to be?" he sneered at me.

My jaw dropped as I watched the Greek God in front of me fight with me for no fucking reason. I took in a deep breath to steady myself.

"I didn't come here to fight with you. I came as moral support."

"For the midget."

I rolled my eyes and sat back down on the couch so I wasn't facing him any longer. "Sure."

I heard his footsteps come up from behind me, and felt the couch dip when he sat down next to me. He sat far away enough not to make me uncomfortable, but close enough to feel and hear the hum of electricity that flowed between us.

_Weird._

"You didn't answer my question," he noted. "Why did Alice need to talk to Jasper?"

"It's not my place—" I stopped in my tracks to turn and stare at him. "Wait, how do you know Alice's name?"

Edward rolled his eyes and tossed his arm over the back of the couch. "Jasper won't shut the fuck up about her. It's nice to put a face to the name, though. I was concentrated on…_other _things on Halloween." He picked up the remote and turned on the huge flat screen TV in front of us.

I blushed at his words, feeling sort of bad for fighting with him earlier again. _Shut up, Bells. You don't even know if you're what he meant._

"So he likes her?"

He cast a sideways glance at me before turning back to watch the game he had turned on. "That's what I was implying."

I pursed my lips and turned away from him, feeling my anger starting to return. "Oh."

He laughed. "Don't be so fucking sensitive—if you can't handle the heat get the fuck out of the kitchen."

"If you can't take it then don't dish it," I retorted icily.

He grinned at me, kind of crookedly, and nodded. "Touché," he giggled.

I opened my lips to say something else witty and sarcastic, but then there was a scream.

"BELLA! HELP!"

Edward and I both shot off the couch and ran towards the door which they had disappeared behind. He all but ripped the door off its hinges to reveal Jasper sitting on his bed, frozen, and Alice crouched in front of him on the floor.

"Help him. I think he's having a heart attack," she panted, with fresh tears spilling down her cheeks.

"Jasper," Edward came to sit in front of him, putting his hands on Jasper's knees. "Look at me, dude." He wasn't responding to Edward. Instead he was starring at a fixed spot on his floor, not even noticing the three of us were in the room with him.

Alice ran into my arms and buried her head into my chest and cried, her sobs overtaking her little frame. "Oh my God, Bella!"

"What did you do?" I asked her in a whisper.

"I j-just told h-him. That's i-it."

I hushed her and stroked her hair, watching Edward slap around his roommate to get him to respond.

"Jasper, dude, WAKE THE FUCK UP." Edward delivered a harsh slap across Jasper's left cheek, sending his whole head to face the door.

His hand flew up to cup his cheek and he blinked a few times before glaring back at Edward. "What the fuck!"

Edward just grinned like a cashmere cat at him. "You looked like you had seen a ghost or something, and like you do sometimes when you get way too baked."

Jasper's eyes snapped to Alice's body crying against me. He pushed Edward out of the way and came to us, snatching her from my arms and holding her against his chest.

"Shh, Alice. It's okay. It'll be okay…" he took in a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "We'll work through this."

She just wailed louder and clutched to his shirt, probably ruining it.

Edward arched a confused eyebrow at me but I ignored it, figuring that Jasper would tell him if he wanted him to know.

Alice pulled away from Jasper, wiping her eyes, and smiling up at him. "Thank you," she sniffed. "I'll have to go to the doctor to confirm it, but so far the home test says I am. I'm making an appointment in the morning so we'll know for sure within the next few days…"

He cupped her chin with his index finger and gazed into her eyes. "Not to sound like an ass, because that isn't my intention at all, Alice…but are you sure it's mine?"

She nodded, sucking in a very unsteady breath. "You've been the only one for…" she paused, blushing, probably embarrassed of her dry spell. "A while," she finished.

He nodded. "I just want to make sure…hey, look at me." He cupped her face with both of her hands as Edward and I exchanged uncomfortable glances, not sure of how to act in their strangely intimate moment. "I wanted to make sure because I want this. I want to share this with you. I want to be there for you and I just don't want it ripped out from under me if it wasn't mine."

Her eyes brimmed with tears. "It's you. It's always been you." She said the second so softly I wasn't sure if he heard her; I know Edward hadn't. A look of realization crossed his face.

"You're pregnant!" he yelled, clearly shocked.

Jasper wound his arms around Alice's little waist, before placing his large palm on top of her flat lower tummy. "No, Edward. We're pregnant."

Edward looked between the two of them before glancing at me. "No offense, Jazz, but I don't think you're going to be carrying the extra thirty or so pounds."

Alice gasped softly, before turning to me with wide eyes. "I totally didn't think about that. Oh my God…"

"Shh, babe, it's okay," Jasper comforted her. I was a little taken back from his natural ability to calm her with just a simple word or small touch.

"Dude…what are your parents going to say?"

Jasper turned to face Edward, obviously torn. "I'll deal with it as it comes."

"And Rosalie?"

Jasper winced but still stood his ground. "I'll deal with her."

"She'll try to kill Alice," Edward said nonchalantly, like it was no big deal.

"Who is Rosalie?" I asked. "And why will she want to kill Alice?" I gasped. "Oh my God, is she your girlfriend?"

Jasper shivered. "No. She's my older sister."

Edward sat on Jasper's bed to lean against the headboard. "She'll want to kill you because you're pregnant," he nodded to Alice, "with his demon spawn."

"It wasn't my choice!" Alice screeched at him. "I don't want to be pregnant!"

"Then get an abortion."

Alice's breath caught in her throat and her hands flew to her stomach protectively. Edward arched an eyebrow at her, silently asking her a question. "I could never…" she took in a deep breath. "I _would_ never. Regardless of any circumstances. I didn't want this to happen, but I want this baby—now that it's here."

Edward nodded. "I don't judge." He tossed a look between Alice and Jasper. "I'll back you one hundred percent with your parents, Jazz, but you're on your own with Rosalie."

Jasper's jaw was clenched tightly as he and Edward had some kind of silent conversation with their eyes. "Alice, why don't you and Bella get home before it's too late? If you'd like I can come over later."

Alice smiled warmly at him. "No, it's fine. I think I'd just like to spend time with Bella and be by myself tonight."

"Then call me tomorrow after you get an appointment. I really want to come with you to that."

She nodded vigorously. "Of course!" she squeaked.

"Get home alright. I'll talk to you soon," he said as he cupped her cheeks again and kissed her forehead softly.

"B-bye," she breathed, somewhat in a daze. She waved at Edward on the bed, still not coherent. "Bye Edward."

"Bye midget," he said without looking at her. Jasper and he were in a starring contest once again.

We started to make our way out of the door, when Edward cooed, "Bye Grumpy." I turned to find him staring at me, his green eyes smothering me and making it difficult to string together a sentence, let alone form a few words. My fists clenched in annoyance, but I swallowed the anger back down. _For Alice. _For her sake.

"Bye," I got out, grabbing Alice's hand and pulling her from the estrange apartment.

Alice and I made it all the way down to the lobby of their building before she looked over at me and smiled warmly. "I think that went well."

_Speak for yourself._

_*_

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	3. Confirmation

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*

**Ch 2—Confirmation**

**BPOV**

Alice drummed her hand nervously on the hand rest. Jasper had yet to show up the obstetrician, and her appointment was in five minutes.

He wasn't exactly _punctual_.

"Call him," I told her for the millionth time.

"No. He'll show," she said confidently, but the tremor in her voice gave her away.

"Mmhm." I flipped through the _Cosmo_ I had brought, because I had a feeling I'd need the entertainment. I was tagging along because I would want Alice there if I was in her position, but really that was the extent of it.

Her tapping continued.

"Did you tell him the right time?" I asked, not looking up from the article of '_How to Find Your 'G-Spot'._

"Of course. I said it was at two sharp. It's not like he could mess that up," she shrilled, still tapping her fingers.

"Did you tell him the right address?"

"Um…yes. I think," she added. She bit her bottom lip and then her eyes flashed to mine, wide with worry. "Oh my God. I don't think I did. I said 'Seattle OB/GYN Group' on Madison…there's more than one Madison street, isn't there? Oh God…he probably went to Madison Avenue or road or—"

"Alice, take a deep breath," I told her. I tossed my magazine back into my purse and took her hand. "It's okay. In…out…there, better?"

"Not really."

I rolled my eyes. "Jasper isn't a moron. He could have Googled it."

She just sighed and tapped her hand still, staring at the door.

I didn't blame Jasper for not showing. The place wasn't exactly my idea of a fun afternoon. Women with swollen bellies were flipping through magazines and none of _them _had men with them. But there was a good chance their baby daddies had come to one of their first appointments.

"Alice Brandon?" a nurse came through the door and called her name off a folder.

Alice sent me a panic stricken look, I guess torn. "Erm, yes." She rose hesitantly out of her chair and I followed her. She paused at the receptionist and cleared her throat. "Excuse me…if a blonde man comes in named Jasper Hale, will you send him back?"

The receptionist nodded and waved her off. Alice just nodded and hung her head all defeated and sad.

We followed the nurse behind the closed door and stopped short at a scale. "I'm going to need to you remove you shoes and step on the scale, please…"

Alice slipped off her precious Jimmy Choo's, and stepped on the scale. The nurse shifted the weight thing back and forth for a minute, before stating, "You're weighing in at ninety six." She gazed at Alice before scribbling it down. "Now height."

After checking that, she led us to a room and started checking Alice's vitals. She checked her blood pressure, her temperature, shined some light down her throat and into her eyes, and then told her the doctor would be right in.

Alice just looked like she was scared shitless sitting on the annoying crinkle paper and staring around the room.

"I'm freaked out," she admitted.

"I know. I am too," I added.

"What am I going to do, Bella? I mean…do I keep the baby after it's born? Or do I give it away?"

I leaned back into the visitor chair and tilted my head. "Normally babies aren't my specialty but I'm pretty sure you have nine months to figure that out."

She just half smiled at me as the doctor entered the room.

"Hello, Alice," the woman crooned. "I'm Dr. Ackerman." She shook her hand and then looked over at me. "Nice to meet you…"

"Bella," I told her, and shook her hand too.

She smiled and then sat down in her little rolling stool. "So you think you're pregnant?" Alice nodded and fumbled with her hands. "Alright, we'll let me ask you some of these questions real quick and I'll have someone in here to get a blood sample." She cleared her throat and opened the chart. "When was your last menstrual period?"

"Um…before Halloween," she answered after some thought.

Dr. Ackerman jotted it down and then asked some more questions.

"Do you have any sensitivity to smells?"

"No. Wait—well, not really." Alice scratched her neck and kind of laughed nervously. "I normally don't like the smell of bananas, but this morning when Bella ate one I wanted to vomit."

That explains why she had held her nose and left the room while I was eating this morning.

"Alright," Dr. Ackerman jotted it down. "Have you had any nausea?"

"Like morning sickness?" Alice inquired. The doctor nodded. "Um…no? No, I haven't."

"Any tenderness in your breasts?"

Alice looked back and forth from me to the doctor and then back at me. "Do you want me to squeeze them here or something?"

I snorted and tried to cover it as best I could but Alice still shot me a glare and turned back to the doctor. Dr. Ackerman just smiled and shook her head. "That's not necessary. Just when you do every day activities, like bathe or dress, do you feel sore?"

Alice blushed. "Yeah," she whispered.

"Are you more tired than usual?" Dr. Ackerman read off.

"Nope," Alice piped, probably glad there was one thing working in her favor. "I'm just as awake as ever."

"Are you urinating more often than usual?"

"Um…no?"

"Any kind of muscle ache's, particularly your lower back?"

"I guess a little…"

Alice just sat there and answered her questions as best as she could, when the door opened.

Jasper poked his head through and relief washed over his face as he saw Alice. I think Alice was probably too petrified to be too angry with him, because her face broke out into a huge grin as she saw him.

"Jasper!"

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized as he closed the door behind him. "There was a pretty bad wreck on the free way—"

"It's alright," she piped, probably just freaking ecstatic that he showed up. "You're here now."

Jasper stood next to my chair and smiled down at me, before focusing his entire attention on Alice. Dr. Ackerman continued with a few more questions, before clearing her throat.

"Well, Alice, we can't ever certain until we have an actual test…" she trailed off. "So I'll send someone to administer that and I'll be back, alright?"

Alice nodded, her face suddenly looking kind of green. She was deathly afraid of needles.

As soon as the doctor left, Jasper rushed to her side and wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. Her head lulled to his shoulder as he rubbed her back in small circles.

The whole exchange was weird. If an outsider had been watching, they would have figured Alice and Jasper had known each other for years, rather than just a few short weeks.

I flipped to another page to try and distract myself from the strangely intimate exchange less the five feet from me.

Alice must have noticed my discomfort and pushed Jasper away and offered him the spot on the bed next to her. He took it, and no one spoke again until a nurse in purple scrubs came walking into the room. She asked Alice to remove her jacket and pull up her sleeve, before tying off her arm to plump the vein.

"Bella," she whined. Her eyes were already clenched shut and honestly she wouldn't have known the difference if it was me or Jasper holding her hand. But being the good friend I was, I got out of my chair and walked up to her and took her hand in mine and shushed her.

"Ready?" the nurse asked. Alice whimpered and the nurse kind of laughed and I wanted to tell her to stop being such a bitch because her laughing was only making Alice more freaked out. "It's not that bad," she tried to reassure her, but failed miserably.

"God…" Alice whispered. I looked away as the needle went through her arm, because I had an issue with blood, not needles. Alice could watch blood spurt from someone or some gory shit like that, but never the needle. I could watch the freakiest shit with needles until the blood came.

We were like Ying and Yang. It made me smile a little bit, until I realized Alice was about to crush my hand.

"Breaking my hand won't help," I hissed.

"Sorry."

The nurse shifted and suddenly the pixie had relaxed her death grip on my hand, even though I couldn't move my hand now even if I wanted to. "All done," the nurse said, putting cotton and a band aid on Alice's arm.

Alice looked down at it, and then to me, and then to Jasper. "It wasn't that bad."

If Jasper hadn't been in the room she probably would have been in tears. When we were sixteen, Alice had gotten strep throat and it had taken her two weeks of sounding like a horse and being miserable and not getting better before she went to take the shot.

"See, I told you," the nurse cooed. She slipped the vile of blood into a container so I couldn't see it anymore, thankfully, and then zipped it closed and scribbled something on top of it. "It should take about forty-eight to seventy-two hours for this to come back to us," she told us.

"So two to three days, then," Jasper affirmed.

The nurse nodded, because it didn't take rocket science to know that forty-eight to seventy-two hours was two to three days.

"You're free to go," the nurse told all of us. She turned to Alice. "We'll contact you the same day we receive the results."

"Thank you." Alice smoothed her shirt and hopped off bed, ignoring Jasper's hand he offered. I smiled inwardly; she was still my independent pixie that I loved. Good.

We exited the office building, and kind of hung around the front of the building when Jasper asked if it would bother us if he had a cigarette. Alice kind of scoffed at him but I just shrugged because I just didn't care.

"You smoke."

Jasper arched an eyebrow as he lit the lighter. He inhaled and lit the cigarette, before exhaling and blowing the smoke in the opposite direction of where we were standing. "Yes."

"You can't smoke around me."

"Alice, you don't even know if you're pregnant yet—" I started.

"Not only that," she interrupted, "but it's bad for you. You'll die."

He laughed and took another drag and again, directed the smoke away from us. "Alice, I do a lot of things that could kill me."

Her eyes widened and suddenly I found the curiosity eating both of us alive. "Like what?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know." He took another drag and looked over at me kind of hesitantly like I would give him a sign of whether to answer her or not. I just raised my eyebrows and he kind of laughed nervously. "I drink way too much, I smoke cigarettes and weed, I drive fast…name anything stupid and Edward and Emmett and I have done it."

"You smoke weed?" Alice screeched.

Of course he smoked weed; I vaguely recalled the bong that was sitting in Edward's room in Halloween.

"Occasionally…" he shifted his eyes nervously. "I have my vices, but everyone does."

"I don't have any vices."

I snorted. "Alice you so do have vices."

She crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow at me. "Enlighten me, please."

"Shopping."

Her eyebrows returned to their natural position and she didn't mutter another word to me. Instead she turned back to Jasper who was stomping on the remainder of his smoke. "Jasper," she cooed, "do you have plans for lunch or I guess dinner?"

He scratched the back of his head. "No, I was planning on grabbing something to eat on the way home…"

Alice's face lit up. "Would you want to eat something with Bella and me?"

I glanced at my phone; technically, we'd be eating an early dinner. It was just after three fifteen. Jasper grinned and nodded at her. "I'd love to."

"Great! Where would you like to go…?"

"I have a place in mind," he told her and smiled at us. "Just follow me there. It's not far from campus and the food is really good."

"Okay!" Alice started to trot off after him leaving me to just walk behind them awkwardly. I almost wanted to ask her if she could drop me off at home and go out to eat with him _alone_, but I refrained. Probably the only reason she had the courage to ask him to eat was because she had phrased it _Wanna eat with Bella and me?_

So I kept my mouth shut all the way until we stopped abruptly in front of a shiny black motorcycle that was parked a few spots down from Alice's Porsche.

"Where's your car?" Alice asked.

He grinned sheepishly. "You're looking at it," he gestured to the bike.

Alice looked at the fierce piece of machinery, and then back to Jasper. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I forgot to mention I drive a bike on that list of things that could get me killed." He grinned and took the helmet that he had tucked into his side and started tossing it in his hands. Funny, I never noticed he was carrying it.

"Jasper Hale," Alice started, but stopped. She wasn't his mother or his sister. She wasn't even his girlfriend—she was his one time lover, his one night stand, and his maybe-baby mamma. She had no right to give him lip, and she knew it.

"I'm safe, I promise," he tried to reassure her. He ran his thumb across her cheek and grinned down at her. "Just follow me. It's about fifteen minutes from here."

Alice nodded and grabbed my hand before throwing herself into her Porsche.

She whipped out of the parking lot to catch up to Jasper, who was waiting for her before he pulled out on the road.

If Alice hadn't been so into him, I might have gone for Jasper—the dude had style and fuck, sitting on his bike in a leather jacket…that shit was hot.

Jasper pulled out on the street and probably redlined his engine on the crotch rocket.

"That motherfucker," Alice hissed, and shifted gears to catch up to him.

I stayed silent while we pulled onto I-5, and then decided to chance speaking. "So…"

She glanced over at me, then switched to fifth gear to let the car cruise. "So what?"

"You did good with the needle."

"You did good with the blood."

"Thanks, A."

"Anytime, B."

It was quiet again and it wasn't uncomfortable or anything just Alice driving and me staring out at other drivers.

"So what do you think of him so far?" she asked nervously.

We pulled off the highway on to a side road. "He seems…" I racked my brain for the correct words. "Smooth."

"Smooth?"

"Yeah," I turned my head to look at her. "He seems like that guy that always knows what to say. But in a good way."

"Good way?"

I sighed heavily, "I don't think he'd tell you shit to fuck you over."

She shook her head and grinned. "Thanks for being so blunt."

"You're welcome."

We pulled into some cheesy sports bar that pool tables and crap that I had never even heard of, but Jasper was right; we were only a little ways off campus.

Jasper parked his bike and rushed over to us to open the door for Alice. She mumbled a thanks as I squinted at the neon sign over the front door. _The Roaring Fork. _I turned to Jasper and raised an eyebrow.

He grinned. "It sounds cheesy as hell but it has really good food. C'mon."

We walked in and it wasn't really crowded, so we got a table right away. There were already quite a few college co-eds that had insisted on taking happy hour a few hours early. Jasper tucked the helmet in one of the empty chairs and ordered a soda.

I eyed the waitress and then eyed some of the under aged college kids before I ordered myself a drink. Alice huffed and ordered a water.

I took a sip of my rum and coke and smiled at Alice. "You've had you're last drink for a while, lady."

Jasper just grinned and sipped his coke. Deciding to break the tension a little (and since I was the only person consuming alcohol) I turned to Jasper. "Tell me about yourself, Jasper."

"There's not much to tell." He ran a hand through his hair. "I grew up here. I have an older sister that's two years older than me. My dad's a lawyer, my mom is…a stay at home mom, I guess." He ordered some food from the girl and turned back to us. "I'm not that interesting."

Just as our food got delivered and we fell into reasonable conversation, there was a huge commotion from the front door. We all three turned to look and I heard Jasper curse under his breath when he saw who walked in.

His dick of a roommate with his arm around two drop dead gorgeous girls waltzed in like he fucking owned the place. Edward had a pair of Ray-Bans over his eyes with both arms draped around the blonde and the strawberry blonde's shoulders, holding them both to his sides. He was laughing when he walked in, and suddenly he saw Jasper (because who could miss that mess of blonde hair?) and then saw Alice and me.

He unwrapped an arm from the bleach blonde to remove his glasses from his eyes. He hooked them on the collar of his shirt before freeing his other arm and started to walk towards us, blondes in tow.

The bleach blonde looked like she was about to kill us.

The strawberry blonde…just kind of looked like was just there. Ditz.

Edward stopped short at our table, looking kind of intently at Jasper. Jasper just stared back at him, blinking blankly, and didn't say shit. Sighing, Edward turned to face us and grinned. "Hey Alice," he crooned. "Hey _Bella_." He emphasized my name.

"Hi Edward," Alice piped. She chewed on a French fry while smiling up at him.

I just nodded at him, and then turned my attention away from him. Apparently that pissed him off because he frowned and furrowed his brows at me, and then turned to Jasper.

"I didn't think that was your bike," he said to Jasper.

"Mmhm." He looked past Edward and met the bleach blonde's eyes. "Hi Rose."

The blonde looked back and forth from me and Alice, before resting her eyes on Jasper and softening. "Hey Jazz." She pushed past Edward and mussed his hair before flicking his ear.

He pulled his head and swatted her hand. "Cut that shit out, Rosie."

She frowned. "Don't fucking call me Rosie."

"Emmett does."

She smacked his shoulder. "That's because it's Emmett."

Edward cleared his throat. Alice turned to him, obviously a little nervous, and asked timidly, "Would you guys like to join us?"

The blonde Jasper had called Rose (which I now recognized from the pictures in their apartment) sneered at her, while the strawberry blonde snuggled her way back under Edward's arm and was pawing at him.

Edward's eyes flickered to mine momentarily, before he let out a ringing laugh. "Thanks for the offer, Alice, but I've got a bar stool over there with my name on it. Happy hour begins in oh…" he checked his watch. "Sixty minutes. I wouldn't want it to start without me."

The strawberry giggled and I suddenly felt nauseated with the overwhelming smell of vodka coming from her. "You better get a head start then," I mumbled. "Beat all the other drunk asses."

Edward cocked his head to the side and smiled a sickeningly sweet smile. "I plan on it." He turned to Jasper and smirked. "Talk to me before you head out," he said, then pulled the two blondes from our table and made their way to the bar.

Out of the corner of my eye I swear I saw Edward slip his hand in the strawberry blonde's back pocket.

I ignored it though. He was a dick and he wanted to get a rise out of me.

Jasper was quiet but still made way to talk to us while we finished our meals. Edward and his blondes were clearly the loudest people here and were chatting with the bartender animatedly, all of them taking shots and chugging drinks together.

More than once I caught Jasper looking longingly into their direction. And I think Alice did too because she got really quiet after a few minutes and started pushing her food around.

The big burly guy that must have been Emmett showed up not too much later, and Edward roared, "EMMETT!" and Rose screamed, "BABY!"

Emmett bounded towards them and scooped up Rose, twirled her around, before planting her mouth with a huge kiss. "Hey baby," he cooed. He set her back on the barstool before kissing the strawberry blonde's cheek and slapping Edward on the back. Edward nodded in our direction and said something softly and then started smiling. Emmett looked up and locked eyes with Jasper, smiled, and then nodded.

Jasper really looked uncomfortable now.

Alice threw him a bone. "Jasper if you want to go hang out with your friends go ahead," she told him. She fidgeted in her seat. "Bella and I are probably leaving soon anyway."

He shook his head stubbornly. "Alice, there's no where else I want to be right now." _Except across the room, probably._

She wasn't convinced, and neither was I. I held my tongue for just a minute, long enough for me to glance over my shoulder to look at the bar.

Emmett and Rose were sucking face—literally. At the bar. In public. Gross.

Edward was staring at me, while the strawberry blonde put her hand on his thigh and leaned in. He turned his head slightly back to her, but still kept his eyes locked with mine. Out of nowhere, she put her lips to his and kissed him.

And he kissed her back—while staring at me. I almost wanted to shout at him that it was rude to kiss with your eyes open—but he was doing it on purpose. And I couldn't stop staring.

Finally, when I saw his tongue slip out of his mouth and into hers, he closed his eyes and turned his full attention to the blonde he was mauling.

His message was loud and clear—he was shooting me down before I even had a chance to act. Rejection. Rejection absolutely sucks, even when I wasn't even doing anything to make him think I wanted to hook up with him again in the first place.

So I turned back around to scowl at my nibbled French fries. "Actually Jasper, Alice and I have to go," I was creating us an out. If Alice was uncomfortable as I thought she was, she'd go with it. "I have a huge paper due tomorrow at nine that I haven't even started. I should get on that."

Alice nodded her head enthusiastically. "Yeah isn't that the class you're pulling a C in?"

"Mmhm. Fucking Davis's class."

Jasper looked back and forth between us uncertainly. "I heard he was rough," he said finally.

"Yeah, Davis is a bitch," Alice agreed. She smiled. "I had him last semester."

Jasper nodded. "Okay then."

Alice and I started fishing cash out of our wallets but Jasper stopped us. "No, no. It's on me."

After arguing for five minutes and not getting anywhere, I gave up. I grabbed Alice's hand and tugged on it, so she'd stop staring at the blonde man and start moving her ass back to the car.

"Well it was nice seeing you today, Jasper," I said to him casually.

"Yeah it was nice seeing you, Bella." He got out of his stool and stood in front of Alice. "It's always a pleasure to see you, Alice," he said sweetly, sweeping her into a huge hug. He kissed the side of her head and for a split second, I thought he was going to kiss her on the lips and I swear Alice thought so too. But he just tucked her hair behind her ear and muttered something about calling her tomorrow.

Alice led me out of the bar, but I had to look back when someone had said, "Finally!" Edward slapped Jasper on the shoulder and messed up his hair, so now it was starting to copy his own bed head. Edward's eyes locked on mine again as he said loudly, "Now we can really have fun."

Jasper was just grinning and shaking his head as he accepted a very full shot glass with amber liquid.

I turned and nearly ran over Alice in the process. "What are you looking at?" she asked, peering around me.

"Nothing," I lied. I nudged her out the door. "Absolutely nothing."

We didn't talk the whole way home. We got up into our apartment and went our separate ways in our bedrooms, not really knowing what to do with ourselves.

I didn't want to go out, and Alice was a _maybe _pregnant chick, so she couldn't go out, right? And then I didn't really want to chance bumping in to any of Edward's little clique while bar hopping, so going out was out of the question.

I could do homework—except that I was completely up to date on all my assignments. For once, I wished I was a slacker.

So that left me to sit on my bed and watch brainless TV for a few hours.

After about two hours, Alice knocked on my door and crawled into bed with me. We didn't really talk except when a funny part or a stupid part came on the screen.

After an hour of silence between us, Alice sighed heavily. "He did seem eager to get away from me, didn't he." It wasn't a question.

I hummed in response which just made her groan. "Okay, Al, here's the deal. I'm sure Jasper is a great guy, but the fact is that we're not his friends. Maybe one day, but not now. So what, he wanted to hang out with his friends. At least he didn't just totally ditch us when they came in."

She nodded. "Yeah I guess." She scratched the back of her head and clutched a pillow to her chest. "His sister looked like she wanted to eat me."

I shook my head. "Maybe she was just hungry."

"In a bad way, Bella."

"I'm sure she just isn't used to seeing Jasper out with girls…" I trailed off. "Do you have any idea who that other chick was?"

"Nope," she said. She jumped off the bed. "No clue. Why?"

"No reason."

"Okay. Want a popsicle?"

"Yeah, sure."

That was how we spent the rest of the night—eating ice cream and watching TV on my bed.

*

Alice was freaking out. It had been two and a half days since we went to the doctor's office, so two and a half days since she had her blood drawn.

They had half a day left to tell her the results.

She was sitting on the couch, staring at her phone on the coffee table, waiting for the call.

I walked into the living room and didn't bother looking at her. "Staring at it will only make it longer."

"Shut up."

I shrugged and continued to go make lunch for myself. I paused as I got everything out to make a sandwich. "You hungry?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "I don't think I can eat right now."

"More for me, then," I murmured.

I sat down next to her with my sandwich and changed the channel on the TV because she wasn't watching it—hell, I wasn't even sure if she knew I was sitting next to her now.

After about forty minutes, her phone started buzzing and humming Nine Inch Nails to her.

She looked to me, before snatching it up and flipping it open. "Hello?" Her face fell. "Oh, hi Mom." She rolled her eyes. "No, sorry. Yes I'm glad to talk to you."

I snickered and turned down the volume.

Suddenly, she froze and tore the phone from her hear. "Mom! Mom, stop! I've got another call. I'll talk to you later! Love you!" I could hear her mom yelling on the other end of the line but Alice had already pushed the END button and accepted the new call. "Hello? Yes, this is she."

She was quiet, and she turned a little green.

Oh fuck. It was positive. Otherwise she'd be leaping for joy.

She nodded, and mumbled 'mhmm' and 'uh-huh' before shutting the phone.

"And the verdict is…" I said softly.

She looked over at me and sighed. "I need to tell Jasper."

I nodded and watched her dial Jasper. "Jasper? It's Alice." I could hear him talking on the other end. "Can I come by?" She smiled and grinned. "See you then."

She snapped it closed and stood. "You coming?"

I turned off the TV and grabbed my jacket, but Alice was already out the door.

When we got to Edward and Jasper's apartment, they both were there sitting on the couch waiting for us. Alice looked nervously at Jasper, even though he was smiling and trying to calm her, she was a bundle of nerves.

Edward fucking smiled up at me when I glared at him.

"So what's the verdict?" he asked. Alice glared over at him for a second, before turning back to Jasper.

"I'm…" she cut off and took a deep breath.

Jasper decided to help her out. "It was positive?"

Alice nodded helplessly, with tears coming out.

"Oh, Alice," he cooed. He wrapped her in his arms and held her to him while rubbing her back. "It's okay, we'll get through this. I promise."

Edward watched the two of them with furrowed brows, and then tipped back the drink he had been sipping on. He looked over at me where I was perched on the arm of the couch and held out his drink to me.

I took it without questioning him, and then nearly choked on it. "What _is _this?" I hissed.

"Jack and coke," he said dully, taking glass back from me.

"What, a splash of coke?"

"Mmm," he hummed, then chugged back the rest of it.

I was beginning to think that Jasper did all those things he listed earlier because of Edward. One of them had rubbed off on the other or they just started all the shit together—but they seemed too similar. Except Jasper had the good guy persona, while Edward was an ass.

"So what do we do now?" Jasper asked her.

Alice sighed heavily and wiped her raccoon eyes. "We tell them."

"Who?"

"Our parents."

Those two words hung in the air heavily, and everyone froze. I know what Alice was thinking—she was imaging what Jasper's parents would think of her, how his sister would treat her differently when she found out she was having his baby. Jasper was probably thinking about Alice's parents—her dad, more likely—and whether or not he owned a gun.

Which he did, by the way.

I made a mental note to advise him not to do anything stupid in front of Mr. Brandon.

Edward snickered in his drunkenness. "Have fun, dude."

"Don't _have fun _me, man. You're fucking coming with me."

"Whoa!" he slammed the empty glass on the table. "How did I get dragged into this shit?"

"Dude, you're going."

"No, I'm not."

Jasper narrowed his eyes to slits, and then looked over at me. "Bella's going."

Oh why did he have to bring me into this? Edward glanced over at me, and then shrugged. "What's that got to do with it?"

"Bella is Alice's best friend and she's going. You should take a page from her book."

"Yeah, but I know the temper on your mom and Rosalie."

"Um, guys? When did I ever say I was going?" I asked, but was ignored.

"Yeah, you do, which is more reason to help me out here. The more people on my side the better," Jasper yelled at him.

Edward tugged on his hair and mumbled something. Jasper glared at him. "What'd you say?" he sneered.

Edward looked up at him and seethed, "When did I ever say I was on your side, Jasper?"

It was quiet. Not like quiet where someone said something stupid and just another person needed to change the subject—no, this was an awful quiet, the kind where nothing good will come from whatever words that would be spoken next.

"What?" Jasper croaked.

Edward sighed heavily. "That came out wrong," he muttered. "I meant to say, when did I ever say I was cool with this? I mean…shit dude. I don't think you're thinking. A fucking _baby._ Your fucking baby, growing inside of her," he pointed to Alice. "In nine months, you'll be a _dad_. Have to pay for diapers, baby food, doctors visits, and other shit like that. You're acting like its all dandy and it'll be okay, but I have my doubts."

Alice muffled a sob.

"Aw, shit." He rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't mean to upset you, Alice…it's just that…fuck, has this shit really connected with you guys?"

"Not really…" Jasper looked down at Alice and forced a weak smile. "But, Edward?" Edward looked back at him and raised his eyebrows. "I never asked if you were okay with it or not, because you're my fucking best friend. You back me no matter what. I didn't think I even had to ask."

Edward suddenly looked guilty. "Ah, shit." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Jazz. I'll be there. No questions asked."

Alice looked back at Jasper. "Bella will be there too."

Like I could argue not going _now._ I just crossed my arms and mumbled, "Mr. Brandon has a gun."

Jasper looked scared shitless for a second, then smiled nervously. Edward got up and retrieved his empty glass before heading into the kitchen.

"Bella."

I looked up and Edward was beckoning me to follow him. I stood and walked into the kitchen, surprised when Edward had thrown down a second glass next to his empty one. He reached into the cabinet and pulled out the half empty bottle of Jack Daniels, before pouring a huge amount in both, followed by a splash from a coke can from the counter.

He dropped a couple ice cubes in each and then pushed the cup towards me with his knuckles. "Drink."

"Why?"

"Because I can't imagine doing this shit sober," he told me, taking a big gulp.

I took the cup and took a sip. He laughed and shook his head. "If you sip it you'll talk yourself out of drinking it." He took another swig of his drink before I noticed it was quickly getting emptier. "Take a big mouthful, then swallow."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but did it, surprised when I did it quickly I could barely taste the alcohol. "Better."

"Told you." He took another swig and leaned against the counter.

I swirled my cup around, then took another big gulp. He started giggling.

"Edward don't fucking get wasted." Jasper called from the living room.

Edward downed some more of his cup. "You'll need to feed me before we go then, because if I don't eat I'm going to be wasted in about ten minutes."

Drunk at three thirty. Awesome.

Alice and Jasper appeared in the kitchen doorway with their coats on and holding out our coats for us. "Where we going?" I asked.

"To get drunk ass food," Jasper growled, throwing Edward his leather jacket. "Then…I guess my parents, because they're here in Seattle…"

Alice smiled half heartedly. "Yeah, we'll need a little practice. Bella wasn't lying when she said my dad had a gun."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Lovely."

I slipped my jacket on and watched Edward finish his drink. He raised an eyebrow at me, grabbed my wrist and lifted my drink up to my lips. "Driiiiiiiink," he slurred.

I chugged the rest of it, feeling the heat from the alcohol on my tongue, and then shuddered. "Gah."

Edward mussed my hair. "Pussy," he laughed, and then reached into this jacket pocket. "Jazz…where are my keys?"

"You're not driving."

"No, not the Volvo's keys. Where are the keys to my bike?" He unzipped the jacket to check the pockets on the inside.

"They're in your room. You're not driving the bike tonight—"

"Aw, man. It's so much fun." He pouted at Jasper as Jasper twirled a set of keys around his finger.

"Wait," I said. "You have a bike too?"

Edward blinked stupidly at me, then laughed. "Of course I have a bike. I got mine first, then this fucker had to copy me." He shoved Jasper, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "Let's go."

Edward and Jasper had a cigarette outside their building while Alice and I stood in the cold waiting patiently. They were both considerate enough to blow the smoke away from us, and Edward popped two pieces of Alice's gum into his mouth but he still reeked of whiskey and smoke.

"I'll drive Edward's car," Jasper told us. "That way we can ride together."

Edward drove a silver Volvo. It was sleek and looked fast, and the way Edward looked at it made me think it was the love of his life or something.

Jasper opened the door behind his for Alice, and Edward just opened the passenger door for himself before plopping in to the seat.

"I'm fucking starving," he swore, scrolling through his iPod. Jasper rolled his eyes, switched the car on, and then pulled out of the lot.

Jasper got on his cell phone. "Hey, Rose." He paused and groaned. "Can you be home in about an hour? I have something I need to tell Mom and Dad, and you should probably be there." Another pause. "Yes, I'm fine. Just be home, okay? Calm down, Jesus. It'll be okay, I promise."

"Rosalieee," Edward slurred and then laughed.

"Yes, Edward's drunk already." Jasper laughed into the phone. "I'll tell him. See you then. Okay, bye." He flipped his phone shut and glanced over at Edward. "She said that you're an alcoholic and that you need to call Tanya back. Apparently she's been trying to get a hold of you."

Edward sighed heavily and mumbled, "Whatever," before looking out the window.

I was currently fighting the urge to kick Edward's seat as hard as possible, and crossing my fingers that the bit of daylight that Alice and I saw when we walked into the Hale residence wouldn't be our last.

*

_What's your vice?_

Next chapter will contain an EPOV, so you get to see what's going on in that copper headed mind of his ;)

Sinful will be update on Sunday or Monday, so watch out for that!

Leave me love.


	4. Confrontation

"_I only know that your the one that always makes me feel it  
It's nothing that you say or do it's just the way you are."_

Ta-da! Chapter 3, and as promised EPOV! Drunkward is such fun to write :)

**Ch 3—Confrontations**

**EPOV**

*

"Can you pull over? I think I'm going to puke."

Jasper looked up at Alice in the rear view mirror and shook his head. "You're fine."

"No, I'm not," she snapped at him. "I feel like I'm about to yak."

I glanced at the clock, blinking a few times when the numbers slid out of focus. "Stop complaining."

Jasper tossed me a glare for snapping at his baby mama, and Alice huffed from the backseat while Bella kicked the back of my seat.

"Whoa!" I turned around and glared at the brunette. "Do you see me shoving my feet against the back of the seats in your car?" I took a dramatic pause to smirk at her scowl. "That's what I thought. Show some fucking respect."

I turned back to face the windshield and barley heard Bella mutter something about a fuck head Volvo owner and Alice's giggles. I looked over at Jasper but he wasn't paying attention anymore, instead checking the side mirrors as he switched lanes.

"Please, Jasper," Alice whimpered, "I really need to use the restroom."

Jasper sighed dramatically and turned on his blinker to get off on the next exit. As we slowed down to the stop light, I instructed him to turn left and go to the Taco Bell.

He stopped the car and turned to me with a brow raised. I shrugged. "I'm hungry."

I could practically hear his eye roll.

We pulled up to the Taco Bell and pulled the e-brake, shutting the car off. Alice literally flew from the car and Bella went after her, both of them a little white in the face.

"We'll meet you…inside…" Jasper trailed off as the doors slammed shut.

I grinned over at him. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. "Stop grinning at me. You're creepy as shit."

I opened my door and scrambled out, walking through the front doors, smiling as the scent of cheap beef and tortillas filled my nostrils. I headed towards the register while Jasper walked to a table in the corner and collapsed into a chair.

When I walked back with my food, he was banging his fucking head against the table.

"You'll loose even more brain cells doing that."

He paused, glared at me, then continued.

I kicked his foot. "Cheer up."

"Please don't speak," he groaned into his arm.

I shrugged, because I wasn't about to try and talk to him when his shit was up his ass, and unwrapped my burrito.

Jasper sat up suddenly, and started ripping his hands through his hair consistently. I was starting to see little blonde hairs falling from his fingers.

"Chill the fuck out," I hissed at him. I picked up a wrapped piece of food and tossed it at him. "Eat a taco."

"Easy for you to say," he growled at me, ignoring the taco.

"Yeah, it is." I kicked my feet on the adjacent chair to his left. Alice and Bella had been in the bathroom for close to ten minutes now, leaving me and Jasper to our own devices. "I fucking wrap my dick. Ever heard the saying 'no glove, no love'?"

"Fuck off."

"With pleasure."

"Oh my God…" he groaned and I wanted to slug him so he'd shut up.

"Okay, dude, reality check here," I took a sip of my Pepsi through the straw, before pulling off the top. I glanced over my shoulder and when I was convinced no one was watching, I pulled my flask out of my inside pocket of my coat and tipped it into my cup.

Jasper rolled his eyes. "You realize you're of age, and you can drink legally, right? There's no need for the flask."

I tucked the metal back into my pocket and grinned. "Where's the fun in that?"

He rested his head back in his arms. "As you were saying…?"

"Right." I stirred the alcohol into the cup with the straw. "You fucked the pixie bareback, and she got knocked up. She's going to have the baby. Now, all you need to know if she's going to keep it."

"First off, I didn't fuck her bareback. I wore a condom and she's on the pill…it just…happened."

"That's like a negative percent chance she'd get pregnant, then."

"Tell me about it."

"Did you poke a hole in it or something?" I asked. I popped the top back on and took a long sip, satisfied with the slight burn that trickled down my throat.

"Fuck off," he spat again. I just shrugged and turned my attention away from him. He groaned. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Honestly…I have no idea."

He sighed heavily. "Rosalie will want to cut off my nuts," he said quietly at the table.

I nodded in agreement, because—fuck—she would. Right after she buried Alice. Rosalie was a little over protective of Jasper.

I continued sipping my drink as the girls came back to the table. Jasper didn't even look up as Alice sat down next to him, but I'm pretty sure he tensed up and then relaxed when she started rubbing his back.

Bella was looking at my food longingly, then back at the register.

"Go get some," I told her, not bothering to hide the fact that I was still ticked at her about the car thing.

"I don't have any cash." Her voice held the same sort of venom, but she sounded so pitiful that I caved.

Sighing, I pushed Jasper's abandon taco towards her. "Eat up."

Alice and Jasper were in their own little world. Alice ran her hand through his hair kind of absentmindedly, and Jasper was staring out the opposite window.

Bella hiccupped, and reached for my drink. I swatter her hand away, and glared at her, but she just laughed and took the cup from me, swatting my hand back in the process.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Hit me one more time."

Her brown eyes widened and an eyebrow shot up, but she then rolled her eyes at me and flicked the back of wrist.

"I'll get you later."

"Later?" Her right eyebrow shot up, like it was mocking me.

"Yes," I said. I leaned in slightly to her, breathing into her ear, "Later, where no one can hear you scream."

She scowled at me, flipped me her middle finger, the proceeded to take a long sip of my drink.

"God," she coughed after a long sip. "How the hell—?"

I patted my pocket affectionately.

"Of course," she rolled her eyes, but none the less, took another healthy sip.

Bella inhaled her taco, and I still had some things I hadn't touched yet, so I slid them over to her.

Another uncomfortable silence fell on us, so I decided to break the tension by tossing broken up taco shell pieces down the front of Bella's shirt. She pinched my arm and flicked me off, before turning away from me.

I snatched the cup out of Bella's hands, before draining the rest of it and handing it to her. "Refill it so we can get out of here."

Alice looked at me with a pained expression. "Why are you so anxious to get there?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but I closed it when I thought better. I didn't have a good answer for her. I wasn't going to say I was looking at this as entertainment because I was seriously scared of Alice's blue eyed stare, but I wasn't going to lie and say I wouldn't be holding in a laugh or two, either.

Bella glared at me for half a second before getting up and refilling it to about half way.

"Ready?" Jasper asked, but he was already out of his seat, pulling his coat around him tighter, not waiting for an answer.

We walked back to the car, and settled in. Jasper pulled out of the parking lot as I fished my flask out of my pocket and dumped a good bit into the plastic cup. I took a sip from the straw, before handing it back to Bella without looking at her.

Her fingers brushed against mine and felt warm and smooth, and fucking soft as hell. But then again, she was a chick. Girls had soft hands, right?

I turned around in the seat to look at her and Alice. "How old are you two?"

"Twenty," Alice answered solemnly. Bella nodded as she drank through the straw.

Alice turned to Bella like she was thinking really hard. "I'm going to be pregnant on my twenty first birthday. Oh my God, Bella."

"You have the rest of your life to drink," Bella said without hesitation.

"But I'll remember my twenty-first birthday for the rest of my life. I have the dress picked out that I wanted to wear! I wanted to look cute!"

"Aw Al, I bet you're going to look cute preggo." She did that annoying thing where someone punches your chin lightly to get you to "chin up".

"But—"

Bella shook her head and pressed her fingers to her lips like a complete drunk ass. "Okay, alcoholic, give me back my Pepsi."

She scowled and held it out of my reach. "You gave it to me."

"No, I offered you some. I didn't give the fucking thing to you."

"You did no such thing. You just handed it to me."

"So you automatically assume that the whole fucking thing—"

"Shut the fuck up!" Jasper said, mainly to me, but looked back at Bella too. "There's something I need to warn you about, Alice."

She looked at him from the window and raised her eyebrows. "What's that?"

"My sister."

"Oh."

"She's really not that bad. She just needs—" I tried, but Jasper interrupted me.

"It's been a while since I've brought a girl home. Remember last time?" He asked as he switched lanes.

I closed my eyes at the memory; it didn't turn out well. Jasper had brought his high school girlfriend home senior year, when Rosalie was home visiting during college break.

"Yeah. Okay, here's the deal." I turned around in my seat again as we got closer to Jasper's house. "Mr. Hale will love you, Alice, because you're a chick. It means his son isn't homo."

"Edward—"

"Mrs. Hale," I ignored him, "will love you because you're into fashion and all that shit, and she is too. But Rosalie…" I laughed without humor. "Rosalie, Rosalie, Rosalie."

"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice," Bella giggled.

"Good reference, although it's not entirely the same concept." I ran a hand through my hair and watched Jasper zip around a car. "Rose is…" I looked for Jasper for help.

"Passionate," he said.

"Protective," I added.

"Judgmental."

"A stuck up bitch."

Jasper turned a little too sharply around the corner. "My sister isn't stuck up."

"Are you not denying she's a bitch?" He rolled his eyes at me. "As her friend," I kicked my feet up on the dash board, watching neighborhoods shoot past us. "I say she's stuck up."

He shrugged and dropped it because we were turning down the front of the community we grew up in.

Alice looked like she was going to puke again. I felt bad for her because this had to be horrible and nerve racking, so I turned to her and took a sip of my cup. "If you weren't pregnant I'd give you some of my flask."

Her face contorted like she was struggling not to laugh; however, Bella huffed in disapproval and crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her cleavage up. Alice sighed and looked away from Bella, probably still over thinking the entire thing. Unlike her best friend, she didn't have liquid courage to back her up.

"Alice," I croaked.

She turned and arched an eyebrow at me. "Hmm."

"Just act like you know what you're doing. The Hale's won't know the difference from it being legitimate or you faking it."

She smiled weakly and clasped her hand around Bella's, before returning her gaze out of the window.

I looked over at Bella, and noticed her sweater was tugged down a little farther than it was at Taco Bell, and I saw the edge of black and pink lace peeking out from the edge of her sweater. I stared for a second, before she glanced at me and caught me ogling her tits. She glared at me, pulled her shirt up, and kicked the back of my seat.

"What did I fucking—" I cut myself off, clenching my hands into fists and counting backwards from a thousand to calm myself. Jasper shot me an appreciative look, and turned into his neighborhood.

As we pulled up to Jasper's parents house, Rosalie's red BMW was already parked out front. Alice made some kind of strangled sigh sound and Bella was tapping her fingers against the glass like she was bored.

"Let's get this over with." I opened my door and stumbled slightly out of the car. I bit a piece of gum in half that I stole from Alice earlier and handed the other half to Bella as she exited the car. "Chew," I told her.

Bella eyed me suspiciously, before taking the gum and putting it in her mouth. She smacked it obnoxiously at me. I resumed my counting from where I left off at two hundred sixty-seven.

Ready?" Jasper asked Alice.

She nodded and took his outstretched hand. It was kind of weird to see Jasper holding a girls' hand, aside from him leading a girl into his bedroom.

Bella glanced at me, sighed, and followed after them.

_Nine hundred fifty-nine. Nine hundred fifty-eight. Nine hundred fifty-seven…_

"You know, we should at least act civil right now," I hissed when I fell into step with her.

"I _am _being civil. You aren't."

We climbed the steps of the Hale's huge ass front porch and Bella tripped.

I reached out and grabbed her around the waist so fast that I didn't even think about it. I clutched her to me, steadying us against the railing against the side of the house. Her palms fell flat against my shirt as her tits pushed up against my chest and her hips pushed into me.

Her lips parted slightly and she inhaled sharply as I let myself look over her face. A strand of hair had fallen into her face, her cheeks were bright pink, from either the cold or her blush I wasn't sure. But I grinned at her and she smiled and laughed nervously, and I wasn't sure what was happening.

She leaned in closer, and I did too, for what reason I have no fucking clue. I had seemed to have forgotten that we were standing on Jasper's front steps and that him and Alice were staring at us and calling our names. For a split second, I wanted to kiss her—half because my dick was spurring to life, and half because I didn't want to hear her speak again.

Jasper cleared his throat. She jumped away from me, which my lower half was suddenly thankful for, and I straightened my coat.

"Do you have two left feet or something?" I laughed.

She blushed and flipped me the bird.

Jasper fiddled his key out and couldn't get it in the hole because his hand was trembling, but he didn't need to. The door was pulled open and there were Mr. and Mrs. Hale, standing in the door way smiling at us.

"Jasper, dear," Mrs. Hale said warmly. She pulled Jasper in a hug and kissed his cheek. "Rose said you were stopping by," she trailed off and looked over at Alice and then Bella. "Who are your friends?"

"Mom," Jasper started. "This is Alice and Bella."

"It's nice to meet you," Alice said with a pretty confident voice.

"Pleasure," Bella smiled. I felt my lips twitch a little because she slurred a tiny bit.

"It's so nice to meet you!" Mrs. Hale pulled Alice into a hug and then Bella. She looked over to me and she shook her head, but still pulled me into a hug. "Oh Edward…every time I see you your hair gets worse."

I just shrugged as she pulled me into a hug and placed a wet kiss on my cheek. It was cool though, because Mrs. Hale was a total MILF. But as much shit as I gave Jasper for having a hot mom (Rosalie had to get the looks from somewhere), she might as well have been my mom, too.

"Fools," a deep voice said from the doorway.

Emmett grinned and walked past his scowling girlfriend to bump his fists against ours.

"Hi," he cooed, as he looked down at Alice and Bella. He towered completely over both of them. I guess it was kind of strange to see him around another girl that wasn't as tall as Rose, but I kept my trap shut incase Rose was already in a bad mood. "I'm Emmett McCarthy."

"Alice Brandon," Alice piped.

She took Emmett's outstretched hand and smiled warmly, despite her drunkenness. "Bella Swan."

"Nice to meet both of you. Rosie, baby," he called over his shoulder.

Rosalie was drop dead gorgeous—but when she was wearing that scowl (Jasper and I referred to it as "Bitch face") her total attractiveness went down a few points. She stood in the hallway, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Why don't we sit down now," Rosalie said harshly from the door way. "Before we all get pneumoniastanding the foyer."

Yeah, right; Rosalie just wanted to remind these two girls walking into the house that it was _her _domain they were entering.

_I am female, hear me bitch._

"Yes, that's a great idea!" Mrs. Hale said happily. "After you, Alice, Bella."

Alice and Bella walked into the living room that had a fire going already, where Rosalie had already sat herself on the loveseat. I tugged on the back of Bella's shirt and nodded towards the huge couch on the left side of the room.

She sat down in the middle; Alice sat next to her, and Jasper next to Alice. I squeezed down at the end, thanking God that the couch was as big as it was. Mr. and Mrs. Hale sat themselves in the arm chair and the other side of the loveseat next to Rose.

Jasper was the epitome of a cool motherfucker, which was funny because he was so fucking scared ten minutes before. He was leaning back against the couch with his arm draped around Alice and his legs crossed like it was no big deal.

After everyone got situated, there was silence. Nobody was talking. Mr. and Mrs. Hale were exchanging nervous looks while Rosalie was glaring at Alice and Bella, and Emmett was looking back and forth between the four of us nervously.

"You're house is beautiful," Bella tried to break the tension.

Mrs. Hale beamed at her. "Thank you, dear! We just got done with some remodeling a few months ago. We redid the kitchen and the bathrooms."

"I bet they're lovely too." She tried to cover a hiccup and I tried my hardest not to laugh but I ended up sounded like I was choking because everyone looked at me like I was nuts.

Bella pinched my thigh.

I was beginning to get used to her snappy feisty attitude, and actually liking it. Grinning, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She looked at me like I had a second head, but left my arm alone.

"Mom, Dad…" he started. He ran his free hand through his hair. "I have news."

I saw Alice wince a little.

"_We_ have news," he corrected. "Something's happened."

I think Rosalie's jaw dropped a little, and Mrs. Hale clutched her drink a little too tightly. They were smart women; they knew what was happening as soon as Jasper walked through the door with a girl in tow. It was either going to be "_We're getting married" _or "_We're pregnant."_

Emmett just looked at me and quirked an eyebrow.

"Jasper, darling, I'm sure whatever you have to tell us will be fine…" Mrs. Hale said, casting a wary glance at Mr. Hale.

Bella leaned into me a little because she was squished, but in the process she practically crushed my ribs. I glared at her, but she shook her head and pinched my thigh again—this time, my upper inner thigh. I stared at her, because her fingers had been centimeters from my cock, and after I had the thought, I was sporting a hard on.

"We…well…" Jasper swallowed audibly and looked over at Alice, but she was frozen. It probably was a good idea for them to tell Jasper's parents first if Alice's dad really did own a gun. Practice makes perfect, and I had a feeling if Jasper didn't perfect this speech by then he'd be leaving with out eye…or some other part of his male anatomy.

"We're…" he paused, then pointed between himself and Alice, "We're having…we're having a baby."

There was a collective gasp from around the room.

"Well…that's a surprise…" Mrs. Hale choked.

Mr. Hale sighed heavily and nodded, not speaking. He was probably just happy it wasn't Rosalie and Emmett delivering the news.

Rosalie wasn't as accepting.

"You're…what?!" she shrieked.

I felt Bella wince from the high pitch scream.

"We're pregnant," Jasper repeated.

"I heard you the first time, Jazz," she said bitterly. "What the fuck?"

"Rosalie Lillian! Language!" Mrs. Hale scolded her.

"Shut it, Mom. Did you just hear what he said?" Rosalie wasn't calming down. In fact, her face was turning a nice shade of red that was making her look a little like a lobster.

"I heard, dear—"

"Then why are you so calm?" Rosalie turned away from her mother and turned to Alice. "And _you._ What do you know about my baby brother? You are going to ruin his life and you probably don't even know his fucking middle name!"

"Rose," Emmett said lowly. He reached around and pulled her down next to him and started whispering stuff into her ear to calm her. I watched kind of amused, but after looking back at Alice and saw she was near tears, I felt like shit.

"I'm so sorry," Mrs. Hale apologized to Alice. Alice just nodded, wiped her eyes and started to speak, but Rosalie cut her off again.

"He has aspirations you know," she said, not really loudly but loud enough. "Dreams, goals, that don't include a baby."

"Rosalie!" Jasper yelled. "You aren't helping!"

Rose ignored him and kept her eyes on Alice. "What do you plan on doing with it? Because you can't keep it. You can't ruin his life like that."

That was a low blow, even for Rose.

"Rosalie," I said evenly, because it was going from amusing, to fucked up, really fast.

"Edward shut up." She snapped at me, and then turned back to Jasper.

"I don't know what to do," Bella whispered to me, looking down at her lap.

"There's nothing we can do. Moral support, right? Our part really comes later."

She just nodded and leaned a little closer to me.

"Who the hell are you to judge me?"

I blinked stupidly and looked over to Alice, surprised that she had spoken since she hadn't uttered a sound since she walked into the house.

"Maybe it's not _my _fault that I got pregnant? Has the peroxide washed away your brain cells? It takes _two _to get pregnant. Yes, I may not know him very well, and yeah, we haven't known each other that long, but that doesn't change the situation we're in right now. So stop trying to place blame on me! It's Jasper and my situation, and ours alone. We just thought it'd be the civilized thing to tell you."

Well shit, the pixie had a backbone. I grinned at the dumbfounded look on Rosalie's face.

"Oh and by the way," Alice sneered. "Jasper's middle name is Lee."

I wanted so badly to high five her that my hand actually twitched, but I figured it'd be widely inappropriate, so I decided against it. But I made note to do it later.

"You have some nerve…" Rosalie seethed.

Bella and I were looking back and forth between the five foot eight blonde and the four foot eleven midget.

"Back off, Rose." Jasper was on his feet now, standing between his pregnant…chick and his sister. "I'm sorry that I thought that I should share this with you guys. Obviously I was wrong when I figured you would want some sort of part in this. Come on, Alice, we're leaving."

"No!" Mrs. Hale jumped to her feet, frowning. "Don't leave. Alice," she turned to the pixie, smiling warmly. "Please stay."

Alice looked hesitant, but nodded anyway and her and Jasper sat back down. Mrs. Hale jumped off with questions: _When did you know? How far along are you? What are you in school for? _Yada yada.

Rosalie stormed off after a few minutes into the kitchen. Emmett had looked after her but shaken his head, starting to talk to me and Jasper instead. After a few minutes, I rose and went into the kitchen to find her.

She was standing with a glass of ice water, facing the back yard. I walked up behind her and cleared my throat. She looked at me, then back to the backyard.

We stood in silence for a minute, neither of us speaking. "What is he thinking?" Rose finally whispered.

I chuckled without humor. "That was quite a show you put on—"

"I'm not kidding Edward. What's his logic for this? She may be a nice girl, don't get me wrong…but…Jesus Christ does he know what this means?"

"Yeah, he does." I stuffed my hands into my pockets. "He's twenty-one years old, Rose. He's not a little kid."

"He's too young to be having a kid. And he's way too fucking immature. So are you."

"I'm not spreading my seed anytime soon."

She rolled her eyes at me and sipped her water. "Thanks for making a joke out of this."

"Relax. Please?" I asked, hopeful that she'd chill the fuck out. Her anxiety was starting to make me feel a little high strung and it was totally killing my buzz.

She sighed and nodded. "You need to call Tanya," she said after a minute.

"Hmm."

"Don't blow off my best friend."

"I'm not the one doing any of the blowing, my dear Rosalie," I cooed.

Her face contorted and she shoved her hand against my chest. "You're sick."

"And you love it."

She shook her head, grinning, and walked into the living room to find Emmett. Bella passed her on the way in and Rosalie looked at her through glaring eyes, while Bella just looked kind of confused.

"I-I'm sorry. I was trying to find the bathroom…Jasper said it was 'just down the hall'. Well he failed to mention how many fucking halls there were—"

I scratched the back of my head. "Yeah…it's actually that door right there on your left."

She blushed slightly and it made me wonder why she was embarrassed about something like that but I let it go. Maybe it was the alcohol in her system.

"Thanks."

Bella disappeared for a few minutes, and I leaned against the kitchen table to watch the Hale's dog run around in the back yard.

"He's pretty," she said from behind me.

I glanced down at her. I didn't mean to sneak a look at her tits, but I couldn't really help it when she was a lot closer than I had thought she was, and they were begging for attention by spilling out of the top of her sweater. The skin was milky and white and smooth and I had to work to bring my eyes back to her face.

I was pretty damn sure I was caught again, because she was glaring at me, but she rolled her eyes and looked out the window.

We stood in silence for a little while, until she cleared her throat. "I'm going back to Alice…you know…"

"Yeah," I croaked.

She turned and left, and I turned and watched her leave. Her jeans were so tight they looked like she had been poured into them, and she had a tiny rip on the back of her right thigh that exposed more of the white skin.

I ran my hands through my hair and groaned.

We stayed at the Hale's house for a little over two hours it seemed like by the time we had gathered around in the foyer and grabbed our coats. I shrugged on my leather jacket, almost painfully sober now, and held out Alice's coat for her while Jasper talked with his dad.

Bella smiled up at me, and Alice whispered a soft "thanks" in appreciation.

Mrs. Hale pulled me into a huge hug and told me she loved me, and then warned both Jasper and I to "be fucking careful on those stupid bikes".

Rosalie hadn't thawed whatsoever, but she was at least present to say goodbye to us. Emmett pulled me aside and told me he'd be about ten minutes behind us and to have either beer or tequila waiting for him when he got to our apartment.

Alice stood awkwardly in front of Rose, rocking back on her little feet. "It was nice to meet you, Rosalie."

Rose quirked an eyebrow, but didn't respond. Alice cleared her throat and looked over to Bella, who looked just as lost as her with that situation. Rose sighed, "Bye Jasper, bye Edward," and left the room.

Emmett frowned at the blondes retreating form. "She'll lighten up. Give her some time."

Alice nodded and pulled Bella out of the house and towards the car. We followed behind them shortly after.

Jasper still drove because I probably wasn't _legally_ sober, so I had to endure sitting in front of Bella once again.

Once we had pulled on the high way, Bella spoke. "I didn't know you were so close to the Hales…"

I looked over my shoulder. "There's a lot you don't know about me," I said wryly.

"Obviously."

I reached behind me and tried to swat her, but I just hit the air and she started laughing. Alice giggled and I glared at them both before turning back to the road.

"Is Emmett coming over?" Jasper asked, getting off on our exit.

"Yeah. I need someone to drink with that isn't a light weight."

"Hey! I am _not _a light weight!" Bella protested.

"Yeah right, Snow White."

She stopped talking and frowned at me, and everyone seemed to look at us questionably, but I guess they were under too much stress so they just shrugged it off.

We pulled up to Jasper and my apartment, parking next to Alice's yellow Porsche. The four of us walked up to the apartment, and then Alice and Bella hung around the door awkwardly.

"I think we're going to head out," Alice said nervously.

"Yeah," Bella said, shuffling her feet. "Jake wanted to come over, remember?"

I saw Jasper's hand twitch but he gave them his best smile and said, "Yeah, of course." He wrapped his arms around Alice in an awkward hug, and then mumbled something about calling her in the morning.

I said goodbye to Alice, and Bella was halfway out the door when I called out to her. "Bye Bell."

She stopped and looked at me, but I threw her a crooked smile, so she kind of smiled back and said swiftly, "Bye Edward."

After the door was shut and after we had beers in our hands, Jasper put his head back in his hands. "What am I supposed to do?"

I tipped back my own. "I don't know—"

Emmett walked in to the apartment without saying a word to either of us. We could hear him rummaging around in the fridge for either a beer or tequila, and when he came back out he had a beer and a slice of pizza in his hand from the night before.

"Sure, help yourself to our beer and pizza," I said sarcastically.

"Thanks man," he replied with a mouthful. "What were you ladies up to?"

"Jasper was moaning and groaning."

"Ah, I see. Well, please, don't continue." Emmett kicked his feet on the coffee table and turned on the television.

"Seriously what the fuck am I supposed to do?" Jasper asked again.

Emmett scratched his head. "Ah…I don't know man. Honestly…I don't know." I nodded in agreement. "Do you like her?"

"Of course I like her. I put my dick in her, didn't I?" Jasper said.

"Hey, that's not a stupid question," Emmett said defensively. "Eddie, how many girls have you liked that you've fucked?"

"First off, don't call me Eddie. Second…I don't remember. It's a very small number though."

"My point exactly," he said victoriously.

Jasper ignored him and turned his attention to the television.

"Do you want to date her?" I rephrased for Emmett.

Jasper rubbed his chin thoughtfully while thinking it over. "Honestly…I think I might."

"Then ask her out. It shouldn't be that hard…I mean, isn't the hard part getting her naked in the bed?" Emmett thought aloud.

"You've been with my sister already too long. Remember how long it took you to work up the nerves to ask her out?"

Emmett smiled, obviously his mind somewhere else. "Yeah. But I hadn't fucked her yet. I think if I had, it would have made the process slightly less scary."

"Still my sister. Still don't want to hear it."

"Sorry," he mumbled and took a drink.

I scratched the back of my head. "Ask her out."

Jasper took my beer from me and drank some. "Okay."

Emmett looked over at me as a commercial came on. "So that Bella chick…"

"What about her?" I groaned softly.

"Are you hitting it?"

"What?"

Emmett grinned, obviously amused by my face. "Because I approve, man. You need a little variety. All I've seen you with lately are blondes—" he rambled on.

"Why do you think I'm trying to fuck her?"

"Because," Jasper said, drinking his beer. "You try to fuck everything with tits."

"Not true. I'm not trying to fuck Alice," I said defensively.

"Because she's now carrying my child and I'll kill you if she's ever within a two foot radius of your dick," Jasper said evenly.

I rolled my eyes. "Trust me, she's cute, but not my type."

"He's got a thing for her busty brunette friend," Emmett snickered. I cleared my throat and avoided their eyes. "Oh come _on,"_ Emmett moaned. "You don't think I didn't notice you staring at her tits?"

"The real question is why you were staring at Bella's rack, Emmett," Jasper asked from over the top of his beer.

"I appreciate the female form. Nothing compares to my Rosie, don't get me wrong. But I can tell when another female is attractive. Even more so when one of my best friends is probably imaging fucking her. I'm the best wingman ever."

I punched his arm. "You're the worst wing man ever, Emmett."

He scowled and drank his beer and ignored me for at least ten minutes. I was thankful though, because any more talk of how much Bella's boobs and fucking was making me a little uncomfortable.

So the rest of the night was spent playing Xbox and drinking a shit ton of beer, forgetting all of our problems and pushing them away to deal with them in the morning.

The morning came too soon.

***

_Not everything is what it seems._


	5. Opposing Forces

I own nothing.

**CH 4—Opposing Forces**

EPOV

There was a loud knocking…that was getting faster and louder every second.

The first thing I noticed was that my head was throbbing insanely, like someone had hit me in the skull with a baseball bat. The second thing was that I was not in my room, because I could feel leather underneath my cheek.

"What the fuck," I groaned. I rolled over on my side and ended up crashing against the floor of the living room. I blinked and rubbed my temple. "How the hell…"

The knocking continued.

"I'm coming! Jesus Christ." I rose hesitantly to my feet, pulling my jeans up a little higher up my hips and smoothing out the wrinkles in my t-shirt. I noticed Emmett passed out in the love seat, with his legs dangling over the side, an arm draped over his eyes, and snoring loudly.

Jasper's bedroom door was wide open, and I could see him passed out on his stomach with his shirt around his neck like he tried to get it off, but then decided it was too much effort.

I padded to the front door and wrenched it open to see brown eyes staring at me.

"Hi," Bella said uncertainly, kicking the floor with the toe of her sneaker.

I tilted my head to the right slightly and narrowed my eyes at her because I could barely open them. "Hi…"

She clasped her hands in front of her and looked behind me at Emmett. "I um…I would have called…" she cleared her throat and looked back at me. "But I seemed to have left my phone in your car in my drunken haze yesterday."

"Ah." I ran a hand through my hair and cracked my neck from side to side.

"So…would you mind if I got it?"

"Oh, right." I pushed the door open and stepped aside so she could come in.

She arched an eyebrow at me. "Your car isn't in your living room—"

"Thanks Einstein. I need a cigarette first." I motioned for her to come in and when she did, I shut the door behind her.

I couldn't find my cigarettes, so I tip toed into Jasper's room and grabbed his pack off his dresser and his lighter. I motioned for Bella to follow me past Emmett's snoring form and slid the glass door open, and shut it once she walked through it.

"It's freezing," I whined. I put a cigarette between my lips and lit it, watching Bella stick her hands in the pockets of her jacket.

"You're in t-shirt and barefoot," she noted.

"Mhmm," I took a drag. "You're exceptionally observant."

She rolled her eyes and tucked her hair behind her ear. She looked pretty cute this early in the morning; she had jeans and sneakers and a coat wrapped around her. Her hair looked shiny, and her cheeks were bright pink (probably from the cold).

Bella walked past me and leaned against the railing, taking in the view of the balcony. "This is beautiful."

I leaned on the rail to her left, and blew the smoke away from her. "It's alright, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yeah. I guess it's nice. You can see that park over there, and some trees over that way," I pointed over in the distance. "But all you see is…city. Cars, people, and buildings. It's repetitive."

She looked at me for a minute, without blinking it seemed like, before she looked back at the skyline. "I like the city."

"That's because you grew up in Bumblefuck."

Her nose scrunched up in annoyance. "Don't talk trash about my town that you know nothing about."

"Did you have a movie theater?"

"Well…sort of."

I snorted. "Sort of?"

"There's one in Port Angeles."

"A mall?"

"Um…well—"

"Do you have more than five gas stations?"

She bit her lower lip. "No, but—"

"My point exactly," I cut her off. "Bumblefuck," I said slowly, leaning towards her.

She glared at me. "You think you're so cool because you grew up here—"

"I never said that." I inhaled deeply. "I was simply saying that the reason you like the city so much is because you didn't grow up here. Don't get your fucking panties in a bunch."

She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. "You finished yet?" she asked hastily.

"Nope," I popped the 'p'. "Not quite."

Suddenly, the cigarette was ripped from my lips, and before my own eyes, I saw Bella toss it to the ground and step on it. "You are now," she sneered.

I watched in shock as she glared at me, her hands on her little hips, and her eyebrows raised like she was challenging me. "Seriously?" I croaked. The chick had a serious attitude with me that came out of _no where_.

"Yeah, seriously." She kicked the stub out from under her shoe. "Can we get my phone now?"

"What the fuck is your problem?" I started to reach for another cigarette just to annoy her but she snatched the pack right from my hands.

"My _problem,_" she seethed, "is that an arrogant hung over _asshole_ is pissing me off by acting like he's five." She tossed the pack in her hand.

I snatched the pack while it was in mid-air and narrowed my eyes further. "You know, angry isn't really a good look on you."

I turned to open the sliding door when she said angrily, "Well, douche isn't really a good look on you."

"Why should I fucking get your phone if you're being a stuck up bitch?" I ground out, taking a step closer to her.

She took a step back instinctively, making me grin internally, and her full pink lips pressed into a line. I looked at them a second too long, because suddenly in my mind, those lips were doing a very different, dirty activity, involving my favorite part of my anatomy.

I shook my head to get rid of the thought and continued to glare at her.

She shoved my chest to try and move me but I didn't budge. I was freezing and probably turning a little blue, but I'd stay out there all morning until she apologized.

Her eyes darted from mine to the door, like she was trying to escape but I just took another step towards her. "I'm not being a bitch. I asked nicely and you gave me an attitude—"

"_Excuse me," _I grunted, "the only person with an attitude here is you."

She crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "I do not."

I chuckled darkly. "Oh yeah, you do. Pull that stick from your ass and lighten up."

"I _am _light," she countered. "Look I'm trying my best to get along with you—"

"Obviously not, because you're on my balcony bitching at me at nine thirty in the morning."

She groaned and somehow slipped by me and made her way back into the apartment.

"What about your phone?" I called after her, probably waking up both Emmett and Jasper.

"Fuck it. Alice will have Jasper get it."

I rolled my eyes and walked back into the apartment and pushed the front door back shut before she could even open it an inch.

She wheeled around, trapped between me and the door, my palm resting near the side of her head. "What do you want?" she snapped.

"An apology," I said truthfully. I let my eyes drink her in; the way she licked her lip and the way her hair got in her face, and the way I could tell her back was arched against the door towards me.

"For what?" she shrieked.

"Shh!" I put my hand on her warm mouth to shut her up. "For you, a normal day might start at fucking dawn, but we highly value sleep here."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't you fuckers have class?"

"Yes, at eleven."

"It's almost ten—"

"Shut up Bella. Unless it's an apology, don't open you're mouth."

"What the hell am I apologizing for?" she said after a second.

I smirked. "For throwing out a perfectly good cigarette, for starting my morning off badly, and for being a bitch."

"First, smoking is horrible for you. Second, I didn't do shit to your morning, and third, I'm not a bitch."

I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time since she had been there. "I'm waiting Bella."

She glared at my hand against the door and sighed heavily. "Fine. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry…" I trailed off, not hiding my grin.

"I'm sorry you are such a pompous asshole that thinks the entire fucking world revolves around him," she spat.

I blinked at her, and then shook my head. "That's not what I was looking for, but I suppose we made some progress."

She huffed at me and called me a fowl name under her breath that I laughed at and told her to stand still while I got my keys.

I ducked back into Jasper's room to stick the pack where I had found it, and looking around really quick for any signs of my keys, ignoring the fact that he was mumbling in his sleep.

After grabbing my keys off my desk, I walked back out into the living room. I found Bella standing in the kitchen, holding up a beer funnel that was in the sink and inspecting the hookah that was sitting on the counter.

"Interested?"

She looked up at me and shook her head. "No, I was just looking."

I leaned on the counter. "You should drink with us sometime," I said casually. "And bring Alice."

"You're asking me to bring my pregnant roommate to come drink with you and Jasper? That's real smart."

"Okay," I said slowly. "Never mind. Just trying to be nice." I rubbed my neck roughly. "Let's go."

I led Bella out of the apartment and down to the elevator. It was kind of awkward, considering half of the night, Emmett and Jasper had drunkenly teased me about how good of a fuck she probably was so it was fresh on my mind. It also didn't help that Bella had unbuttoned her coat, giving me a clear view straight down the V-neck of her sweater underneath.

The girl had a nice rack—sue me for wanting a peek. Especially the way that sweater clung to her tits, and those jeans clung to her legs and hips, and there was a rip on her left thigh that showed a patch of creamy skin that was doing nothing to help my mind get out of the gutter.

I tugged at the collar of my t-shirt and cleared my throat, thinking about things like _Emmett in a thong _and _baseball, soccer, football _and not things like Bella getting on her knees and letting me fuck her mouth.

Shit.

"So what'd you and Alice do last night?" I asked, trying to make small talk.

She looked up at me like she was surprised I spoke. "Nothing, really. She watched a movie but I just passed out." She played with a strand of her hair. "Nothing compared to your night."

"My night wasn't that special."

"Mhmm," she hummed. "That's why there were dozens of beer bottles lying around."

I laughed. "Seriously, we didn't do anything. Drank beer and played video games."

"What are you, like twelve?"

"You should be happy I don't take offense to that. I pride myself at being young at heart," I told her, as the doors opened.

"Of course you do."

I led her into the parking lot, and was about a row from my car when she mumbled, "So…"

I stopped walking and looked back at her. I arched an eyebrow and shivered, because I was still barefoot and didn't have a jacket on. "So?"

"Emmett seems like a nice guy," she said after a second.

I put my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes slightly. "Yeah, I know."

"Rosalie seems like a bitch."

I laughed lightly. "Yeah, I know."

"He seems too nice to be dating someone like that," she said thoughtfully.

"God you're nosy, aren't you?" She bit her lower lip and opened her mouth probably to apologize, but I cut her off. "Not that it's any of your business, but Rosalie is extremely loyal and sweet once you melt the ice caps."

I turned around and finished walking towards my car. I unlocked it and leaned against the trunk. "Search away," I told her, waving my hand.

I crossed my arms over my chest, because I was fucking freezing. She appeared a moment later, clutching her phone against her chest.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." I locked the car and started walking back towards the lobby. Bella walked somewhat behind me and as I approached the double doors, she stopped walking. I turned around slowly to see her looking at me with her head cocked to the side. "What?"

"I…" she stopped herself and shook her head. "Nothing."

"Okay…" I scratched the back of my head and watched her rock on her heels uncomfortable for a few seconds. I wanted to get inside but for some reason I couldn't walk away from her and leave her in the cold. "Where'd you park?"

She tilted her head towards visitor parking in front of the lobby, about twenty feet away.

"I'm sorry. You're right, it's not any of my business," she said after a second.

I grinned. "You're getting better at the apologizing thing already. Want to give upstairs another go?"

"Ugh! I have nothing to apologize for!"

I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "I beg to differ."

She scowled and closed her eyes like she was counting backwards from ten. I wanted to laugh because it was fun getting her mad; she got worked up so easily.

"Well…" she trailed off, opening her eyes. She seemed to have calmed a tiny bit. "Thanks for letting me get my phone. I should get going…" she cast a glance into the parking lot.

I nodded, not wanting to say anything, but I know my smile was tearing her up inside. She bit her lower lip and averted her eyes to her shoes for a second. "Big plans?" I leaned against the side of the building, my arms still crossed.

"Alice wanted to go shopping," she said softly. She rolled her eyes and smiled, like it was some private joke that I didn't understand.

"Have fun with that."

"Oh, I won't. She wanted to go for baby stuff, but I have a feeling it'll end with her forcing a new pair of shoes or something on to me."

I ran a hand through my hair and glanced down at her chest, before looking at her face. "Well, good luck."

She rocked on her heels and nodded. "Yeah, thanks. I'll…see you when I see you, I guess."

"Yeah…see you." It was suddenly even more awkward than before; now, not only was there sexual tension, but there was that pause where you either hug, or you walk away.

I didn't move towards her, and she didn't move towards me either. She just did some sort of small wave, shaking her head slightly like she was trying to get something out of her head.

I couldn't help it, but I shamelessly stared at her ass as she walked away. She had a natural sway to her hips, not the kind that a lot of girls did purposely, but the kind that girls with wide hips just automatically did. I licked my lower lip, noting the way the butt pockets on her jeans only made her ass look rounder.

_Emmett in a thong. Baseball, soccer, football_.

I had a bad feeling about Bella. She was beautiful and fuckable, but so fucking hard headed that she probably could make me look like a softie at times.

Jasper was awake when I got back inside. He squinted at me as he poured himself a cup of coffee and then stared at the mug. "Where were you?"

"Bella stopped by," I answered automatically. His eyebrows shot up in question, but I quickly added, "She left her phone in my car yesterday."

"Oh," he mumbled, and then took a gulp. "I feel like shit."

Emmett stumbled off the couch and groaned as he rolled on to the floor. "Damn it." He stood and rubbed his neck. "What the fuck were you two yelling about?"

I shook my head. "She's a bitch."

"A hot bitch," Emmett amended.

"But still a bitch," I corrected him.

Jasper turned to me, coffee hot in his hands and shoved a cup at me. "She's Alice's best friend. You're my best friend. Just try and get along, please?"

"Yeah," Emmett sang from inside the fridge, "play nice children."

I delivered a swift kick to his ass, making him yelp and try to punch me, but I dodged it and got myself something to eat. "Go raid your own fridge asshole."

He stuck his tongue out at me.

After the three of us had a cup of steaming coffee and we were all coherent enough to speak clearly, we sat down on the couch and kicked our feet on the coffee table.

"I need to ask a favor," Jasper said after a second.

"Of me?" I asked without looking at him.

"Of…either of you," he said looking over at Emmett.

"And that'd be…?"

"I need to go back to my parents' house and do damage control," he said evenly. He didn't look up from his coffee mug though, because he knew that neither Emmett or me wanted to go over to the Hales anytime soon; it was officially a war zone.

"And you need us for what?" I asked.

"I don't supposed I need you," he said a little curtly. "If you're that opposed to going. But my family loves you, and at a time like this, they'll listen to the two of you over me."

"They think Alice did some sort of voo-doo on you or something?" Emmett asked sleepily.

I glanced at my watch and shook my head. "Sorry man," because I was somewhat sorry, "I've got class in an hour until three thirty."

Jasper narrowed his eyes slightly before looking over at Emmett. Emmett looked back and forth and then shrugged. "I have class in an hour," he said lazily. "But I'm out by twelve thirty."

"I wanted to go a little after lunch."

Emmett nodded. "Okay, I'll go with you."

Jasper smiled and I felt like a douche but I actually _did _have class until after three, so it's not like I was purposely not going. Honestly, those classes I had A's in and I could have skipped, but if Carlise found out somehow that I was randomly skipping classes he'd shit a brick and take away my American Express.

Emmett eventually felt brave enough to try and return to the apartment to shower and go to class when I jumped into my shower.

When I tossed my book bag over my shoulder, Jasper was sitting at the dining room table with books spread out in front of him. "Good luck," I said hoarsely.

"Thanks Edward." He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck and honestly, the poor guy looked like shit. Suddenly I felt like an even bigger douche for not seeing how he felt about the whole thing.

"You okay?" I asked slowly.

He nodded. "Yeah, I am. It's jut a lot of fucking take in."

"I hear you." I picked up my binder and tucked a pen behind my ear. I was horrible at this whole communication bullshit, and besides, were guys even supposed to talk about this shit? This was what we had mothers and sisters for, right? I scratched my head and opened my mouth like I wanted to say something, but shook my head. "I'll see you later."

He didn't say anything else to me, just nodded and glared at his book and his lap top screen like he couldn't concentrate. I made a mental note to bring home beer and a pack of cigarettes for him to make him feel better.

I grabbed my coat and headed out the front door.

*****

**BPOV**

I tapped my pen against the desk and sighed heavily. I took out my phone and scrolled through it, finding Jake's number debating on opening a new text to him. He wanted to go eat dinner with Alice and I tonight at 7:30 and Alice was already flipping her shit over it.

I sighed and closed my phone, and tried to pay attention to the teacher that was droning on and on.

After the class was over, I made my way over to my apartment to find Alice at the door with her purse in hand.

"Ready?"

I raised my eyebrows questionably. "Hi, my dear roommate. Nice to see you too. How were your classes this morning? Mine were fine, thanks for asking."

I pushed past her and set my bag down on the table and unbuttoned my coat. Alice sighed heavily and dropped her purse down next to my school bag. "Sorry, I'm just fidgety."

"I can tell." I kicked off my sneakers and walked into the kitchen to fix myself some lunch. "Have you eaten anything today?"

She tapped her nails on the table impatiently. "Yeah, I had an apple a few hours ago."

I looked around the fridge and frowned at her. "You need to eat more."

"I know, I know. But I just don't think I can keep anything down right now."

"You know, eventually, you _will _throw up. It's called morning sickness." I pulled out some sandwich stuff and put it out on the counter.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," she rolled her eyes.

I plopped down next to her at the table and grinned. "Just trying to help," I mumbled and took a bite of my sandwich.

I finished a little over half of it, and the slid the plate in front of Alice. She looked down at it and sighed and ate the rest slowly, like it was paining her to taste turkey and bread.

After she had finished, I put the plate in the dishwasher and picked up my bag. "Alright you fucking impatient pregnant woman."

"Thank you," she sighed happily.

I tossed my school bag into my room and grabbed my wallet and purse, and slipped my shoes back on. "Ready," I told her.

She grabbed her keys and we walked down to the parking lot. We slipped into her Porsche, and the yellow thing purred to life and we were off.

We didn't go too far. Actually, if it hadn't been for the fact that Alice _was _pregnant, I would have told her to suck it up and walk. But when you're best friend is preggo, it's not really in your best interest to piss them off. I could already tell her anger was going to change ten fold over the next few months.

We walked into some fancy baby boutique that she had always commented on whenever we'd walked past. She looked around timidly and when a sales rep approached us, she froze slightly.

"Can I help you?"

Alice stumbled over her words, so I spoke up. "We're just looking, thanks."

The girl nodded and smiled sweetly, although it was totally fake, and left us alone. Alice ran her hands over some little socks that looked like they could fit my thumb and looked a little lost.

We didn't speak for a few minutes. Alice walked numbly around the boutique, looking at all the little baby bibs, shoes, and little shirts with amazement while I was a little bored. I kept my mouth shut though to keep her calm.

She paused at a little yellow dress with daisies on it and smiled slightly. I cleared my throat and asked, "Girl?"

"Huh?" she blinked.

"Do you want a girl?"

"Oh," she murmured. She fingered the frilly fabric before letting it fall from her fingers like it burned her. She looked away hastily, like she didn't want to be near it anymore. "I…haven't thought about it."

"Have you thought about any of it?"

She turned and walked briskly to the other side of the store to look at strollers. "Any of what?"

"Stop playing the blonde card, Alice. It never suited you."

She stared up at the rack of strollers and car seats, her eyes beginning to water. "I can't do this," she said hastily.

"What?"

"_This," _she gestured around the room. "I can't be a mom, Bella. I'm barely fit to be a twenty-year-old."

"Soon to be twenty one year old," I told her.

"That's even worse," she groaned. She stormed away mobility section and wandered towards little boys clothes without really looking at them.

Some mom that was shopping with her baby started trying to hush the crying kid, and was failing miserably.

"See?" Alice nodded towards them urgently. "What if I can't shut my kid up? I…I…" she swallowed thickly.

"Maybe this isn't the best time to be doing this," I said quietly looking around.

"No, this is the perfect time," she said a little shrilly.

I watched her hesitantly, because she looked near tears as she looked through racks of clothes. After a second, she looked at me, a little white in the face, and said weakly, "Maybe I need to eat a little something else."

I nodded and we left, walking aimlessly down the crowded streets. Despite the early afternoon, there was a vast amount of people bustling up and down streets. I spotted a hot dog and pretzel vender at the next street corner and pointed to a bench that was in front of a few apartment buildings across the street.

"I'll grab you something," I instructed her.

"Thank you, Bells."

We parted, and I ordered her a hot dog and a pretzel, knowing whichever she didn't want I'd end up eating. I paid the man, juggling the hotdog with all the fixings a pretzel in one hand and a large diet coke in the other.

I heard a laugh from behind me. "Want a hand?" someone boomed.

I whipped around, and became face to face with Emmett. He grinned widely, his pearly white smile warm and friendly that significantly reduced the scariness of his size.

"Bella, right?" he asked, taking the coke and the hot dog from my hands.

I smiled. "Yeah. Emmett," I clarified, even though I already knew.

"Where we headed?" he gestured around the busy street trying to figure out where to go.

"Oh! Alice is waiting across the street."

He nodded and we fell into step, not really needing to fill the silence right away. "So how are you?" he asked.

"Fine," I assured him.

He laughed loudly. "You didn't sound fine this morning."

I looked up at him and quirked an eyebrow in a silent question. "You and Cullen?"

Realization dawned on me; Emmett had been asleep on the couch this morning. Of course he had woken up to our yelling. I blushed and pushed the button for the crosswalk signal. "Oh, that."

"Yeah, that."

I fiddled with the pretzel, not waiting to see if that was what Alice wanted and tore off a bite. I shrugged, hoping to come off nonchalant. "He's an ass."

"That's almost verbatim what he said."

"He called himself an ass?"

"No, he said you were a bitch."

I nodded, relieved that I could cross the street. So Edward thought I was a bitch, huh? Well that was fine. I didn't care what he thought. I knew he thought I was a bitch because he had called me one to my face. But it felt slightly different being called it behind my back. It sort of…hurt.

"Bella? Hello?" Emmett stood in front of me, while I started hearing honking sounds. "Care to get out of the middle of the street?"

I was still standing in the cross walk. I flushed again, and mumbled my apologies as I stepped up on to the curb. Alice waved at us, her phone in her palm.

"Hey Alice," Emmett greeted her.

"Emmett!" she exclaimed. He handed her the hot dog and the coke which she took greedily.

I sat down next to Alice and patted the space on my right for him. He grinned and sat down and accepted happily when I tore him off some of my pretzel.

"How you doing, squirt?" Emmett asked Alice, obviously referring to yesterday.

"I'm…okay."

He raised his eyebrows and glanced at me, but I shrugged. Alice and I hadn't really talked about it because last night I had been drunk and just passed out when we got home and we both had classes first thing in the morning.

"Is she really angry?" Alice asked quietly. She didn't have to clarify that she was speaking about Rosalie, and not Mrs. Hale.

He sighed. "Jasper and I ran back over there this morning. She's a lot calmer, but still like a bomb waiting to go off. The morning started with her throwing her shoe at Jasper's head and telling him to make you get an abortion." Alice bit her lip and stared down at the half eaten hot dog in her lap. "But when Jasper said that went against you're beliefs, she said that you needed to put it up for adoption."

"Does he agree?"

Emmett hesitated, trying to figure out what I assumed was the best way to break the news to her. I knew already, by the look on his face; he was completely torn. Of course Jasper wouldn't want the baby. He was an average twenty-one year old who accidentally knocked up a chick at a party—that wasn't the ideal situation for anyone.

"Not necessarily," he finally settled on. "He wants to do whatever you want to do. If you want to give it up for adoption, he said he'd be behind you a hundred percent. Or if you wanted to keep it, he'd be behind you too."

"I just…I don't know anyone who's had a baby at my age. Or anyone who has put a baby up for adoption either…"

Emmett rubbed his chin thoughtfully while reaching in front of me to tear off some more pretzel. I let him because I didn't really care; I was more just happy he felt comfortable enough to do that. I liked Emmett.

"You know someone who's adopted." He popped pretzel into his mouth and chewed. "Edward is adopted."

Alice turned to face him, shoving my so my back was completely flush against the bench. I glared at her, but she ignored me. "What?"

"Edward is adopted," he repeated, slower this time. "Esme and Carlise adopted him when he was seven."

"But I thought Edward and Jasper had known each other forever," she offered.

"Since kindergarten," he informed her, grinning.

"So how…?"

"Edward will kill me," he muttered. "Well, his real parents moved him here when he was really young and they met the Hales. Yada yada." He waved his hand. "His parents…passed away…when he was seven. Carlise was his dad's brother, so naturally he went to live with him and Esme."

"Oh."

"Wow."

"Yeah," he laughed awkwardly. He glanced down to see that our food had finally disappeared, and rose to his feet. "I've got to get going to actually meet Edward…but would you ladies like me to walk you home?"

Alice beamed at him. "Actually we parked my car near those boutiques a few blocks down."

"Alright then, ladies," he ruffled both of our hair and smiled at us. "Stay out of trouble."

"Bye Emmett!" Alice yelled as he walked away, while I waved and cranked over this new information about Edward.

_Why do you care? _I don't know. Blackmail, maybe.

Alice and I sat on the bench for a few more minutes, just talking about anything and watching random people on the street. Finally, we realized we needed to get moving if we were both to shower before Jake came to pick us up for dinner.

We didn't say much as we walked, because we both knew what was going to be said at this dinner. We both knew that tonight, Alice would tell Jake about the baby.

What I'm sure neither of us knew was whether Jasper would still be alive in the morning.

***

Sorry this took so long to get to you guys.

Reviews are better than Edward pinning you against the wall :)


	6. Getting Nowhere

**Thanks for the support. If I didn't respond to your review, I'm sorry!! I read every one and they make me smile :) **

**Sinful will be updated this week. Sorry, classes just started and it's been craaaazy so far. **

**Without further delay…Enjoy.**

**I own nada. SM owns everything.**

**Ch 5—Getting Nowhere**

Disarm you with a smile  
And leave you like they left me here  
To wither in denial  
The bitterness of one who's left alone  
Ooh, the years burn  
Ooh, the years burn, burn, burn  
—Smashing Pumpkins, "Disarm"

BPOV

*

Alice took forever getting ready for dinner. I normally wouldn't have cared, but tonight was going to be a shit show, and I sure as hell didn't want to miss it.

"Ready yet?" I called to her.

"Can you help me?" she snapped. "My hand won't stop shaking and I can't apply my mascara until it does."

I walked into her bathroom and snatched the mascara out of her hands. "Close your eyes," I ordered her.

"Why are you in such a rush?" she asked softly. "It's me that's walking to the guillotine, not you."

I rolled my eyes. "You're not walking towards your death, Alice."

"I might as well be! Telling Jake is a huge deal. He's going to tell his dad who's going to tell my dad, before I even get a chance to tell him—"

"Stop overreacting. Breathe normally, if you have a panic attack he's just going to come here for dinner."

Suddenly she was a little calmer and taking in deep, steady breaths. "If we're out eating somewhere nice he's less likely to make a scene right? Less like to go off on tangent and say he's going to kill Jasper?"

I hummed in response and pursed my lips. "Possibly."

"Pick a really fancy restaurant then," she said dully, and dropped the subject as I finished her eyes.

Jake was picking us up in his trusty Volkswagen Rabbit at seven thirty, sharp. Almost as if on cue, at seven twenty-nine, my phone began to vibrate.

"Hello?"

"I'm outside," he said over the stereo.

"We'll be right down!" I hung up and looked over at her. "You ready?"

"It's now or never," she said with feign confidence.

"That's the spirit!" We made our way down to the lobby and there Jake was with the windows of the Rabbit rolled down, and some hard rock music blaring from the old ass speakers. He was drumming his fingers against the steering wheel like it was drum set and singing along loudly.

We approached his car and he smiled at us warmly, because it really had been a while since he had hung out with either of us.

"There are my girls," he drawled. Alice jumped in the back seat (because she's smaller) and I climbed in the front. Once we were situated, Jake put the car in drive and were off.

"So how are you guys? I feel like I haven't seen either of you in forever."

"We've just been really busy with school…and stuff," Alice murmured.

"And stuff?" he implied, but she just waved him off like it was no big deal.

"Well," I said, hopefully changing the subject. "What have you been doing? How's Quil and Embry?"

Quil and Embry were Jake's two best friends, who, like Jake, had come to Seattle for college. The three of them roomed together in an tiny apartment that each of them had to have jobs for to pay their rent, but apparently they loved it and never got their grades down.

"They're great. Embry's dating some new chick, but we'll see how long that lasts. I've just been busy with school and work," he said sullenly. "I've missed you guys."

"Jake we've missed you too!" Alice piped.

He grinned and started describing Embry's new girl, but I wasn't listening, and I don't think Alice was either. Both of us were kind of imagining how the night was going to end up.

We pulled up at some sports bar that was relatively a mid-price range, and he parked the car right out front. We all walked in and got a table. I was the only to order a drink, so I sipped on my Malibu and pineapple juice and pretended to look at the menu.

We chatted lightly over stuff like how horrible our teachers were, what we were hoping to get on our next test, and how Jake was hoping to put in a few extra hours the next few weeks to get us Christmas presents.

Alice remained quiet for most of the conversation, just stirring her drink absent mindedly, like she was in a far away place. Jake cracked a few jokes at her expense, but she just waved them off with a shrug which was out of character for her. She normally would huff and insult him right back with something corny.

Jake raised his eyebrows at me but I shrugged—it's not my story to tell.

Once the conversation had come to a lull, I nudged Alice's foot from under the table. She cringed as she looked over at me, and nodded, knowing she had to do it.

"Hey Jake?" she asked hesitantly.

He looked up from his phone and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Do you know who Jasper Hale is?"

He cocked his head to the side like he was thinking really hard, and then shook his head. "Nope. Why?"

"Because…" she sucked in a deep breath. "Oh God, I can't do this," she whined and put her head in her hands.

"Do what, Al?" he asked. He put his hand on her wrist and shook it a little and she just sobbed and snatched it away. He looked at me for some help, before he got pissed off. "Did he hurt you?" he said loudly.

"No, no!" she wailed.

"Oh, okay," he calmed a little. "What's going on? Bells?"

I bit my lower lip and kicked Alice again, but she didn't move. Instead she did some weird hand gesture that I assumed either meant "Tell Jake" or "Fuck off", so I took it as the first one.

"Jake, something has…happened." His eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as he looked back and forth between me and Alice. "Alice is…well, she's…"

"Oh come off it, will you two? Just tell me. It's _me_ here. You guys can tell me anything. It can't be that bad. It's not like one of you is dying or pregnant or something," he laughed, just as our food arrived.

Alice's head came up slightly, and she looked at me. I refused anyone's gaze, so I stared down at my food. The food arriving provided a temporary distraction for Jake, but it was too short lived, because he took a bite of his sandwich and then laughed it off.

"For real, guys. What's up?"

I picked at my pasta, and Alice moved around her salad without touching it. He looked back and forth, and his gaze grew heated like it was burning a hole into my forehead.

"Holy fuck," he cursed. He dropped his sandwich back on to the plate and stared at me, since I chose that moment to look across the room. "Are you fucking serious?" I bit my lower lip and didn't say anything. "Alice?"

Alice slowly lifted her head and sighed. "Yes, I'm serious," she said shakily.

"You're…" he lowered his voice to a whisper, "You're pregnant?" She nodded hesitantly. "How long?"

"I think six weeks or so? I don't really remember what the doctor said…I was kind of in shock—"

"WHAT?"

"Officially only two or three days…"

"Officially?" he barked.

"Meaning the doctor told her, not some little piece of plastic she pissed on," I said for her.

"Not helping," Alice hissed through clenched teeth.

"Alice, what the fuck? Who the fuck is he, where does he live, and does he own a gun, because I'm going to kill him."

"Jake, please, just calm down—"

"No, I'm not _calming_ down!" he yelled. Several heads turned our way to see what the commotion was about. I drained the rest of my drink and waved down our waitress.

When she came into view, I motioned for boxes and mouthed the word, "Check" to her. She nodded, looked at Jake's red face, then hurried to get us our things.

"Jacob, don't overreact."

"Have you fucking told your dad yet?"

"No, not yet—"

"If I don't kill the motherfucker, he will, so technically I'm doing him a favor because your dad would make him suffer a lot more. I just want him dead," he seethed.

"My dad is in Forks, Jake."

"More reason for him to ask me to kill the bastard for him."

"Jacob Black—"

"You're twenty years old, Alice. Have you thought about that? Twenty years old isn't old enough to take care of a baby!"

"I didn't say I was keeping it, asshole!" she screeched, making people look over at us. "I just said I was pregnant. I don't know if I'm keeping it or giving it up after I have it. I just thought you should know that I'm going to be ballooning in size pretty shortly."

"Here you go," the waitress handed me the boxes and the check before she straight up bounced to get away from our table. I didn't blame her, Jake looked like a ticking time bomb and even Alice was getting a little red in the face.

I scrapped our food into the boxes, just packaging mine and Alice's together, and then Jake's in his own box, but neither of them were paying attention to me.

"And he's not a bastard, Jacob! He's sweet and intelligent, and he's actually been totally amazing about the whole thing so far!" she shrilled.

"Yeah, _so far,_" he mocked her. "Like you've said, it's only been two or three days."

Her jaw dropped, and even I was a little shocked, because that was low for him.

"Fuck you," she spat. "Jake you're one of my best friends, but I'm not going to let you sit here in front of me and fucking bad mouth the father of my child, especially when he's not here to defend himself. So when you calm down and can talk to me rationally like a fucking adult, then you can come to me. Until then, I'm leaving." She looked over at me and grabbed her purse. "You coming?"

I didn't want to really, but I wasn't about to let my pregnant best friend walk the streets of Seattle by herself when she was upset, so I nodded and grabbed my coat, sending Jake an apologetic glance and slapping down enough cash to cover both Alice and my meals.

"See you, Jake," I said quietly, since Alice had already stormed to the front of the restaurant.

"Bells…"

"I know, Jake, I know."

He nodded and I didn't give him a chance to say anything else. I kissed his cheek and walked towards the front, where Alice was putting on her gloves and buttoning up her coat.

"Let's go please," she said hoarsely. I nodded and noticed she was trying hard not to cry.

We walked in the cold in complete silence, and eventually, I linked my arm through hers and held on to her elbow and our steaming food.

We came to a cross walk and once the light turned red and it was safe to cross, we started walking. Alice hesitated at another cross walk, biting her lip. "Let's go this way. It's faster."

I raised my eyebrows, knowing it wasn't the best part of town, but normally neither Alice or I would think twice about cutting through the back street she was talking about. I had a bad feeling about it tonight though; but Alice just looked so pitiful and upset that I just wanted her to get home.

"Yeah, okay."

It was fine for about five minutes; but after that, the cold and hungry started to seep in, and I noticed we were the only people on the street. I heard laughing behind us and turned slightly to see three men, possibly our age or older, about twenty feet behind us. I snapped my head back and felt my pulse quicken, but didn't let it show so I wouldn't scare Alice.

It was probably nothing. We were about to re-enter a pretty busy spot that wasn't far from the University, so it wasn't strange that people were walking. _You're paranoid, Bella. That's all._

But they didn't fall behind at all; instead they had closed in some of the distance that was between us.

I held on to Alice's arm a little tighter, and she looked at me questionably but I kept my eyes forward and increased my pace a little.

"Bella what's—"

"Walk faster," I hissed at her.

She glanced behind us and suddenly she was keeping up with me just fine.

"I see you looking," a voice called from behind us.

"Ignore him," Alice whispered.

"Hey! Hey, we're talking to you," another called to us.

We were re-entering civilization, and in a matter of two minutes, we'd be back in a crowd of people and be able to get lost in the streets somewhere.

"I _said,_" and suddenly I was yanked back by my purse and spun around, "we are talking to you." I dropped the food and surprisingly it didn't spill, but it landed on the ground with a thud. The three guys towered over us, and reeked of beer and weed.

"What are you two doing out here all by yourselves?" the tallest one cooed.

Alice sucked in a deep breath as one reached out to touch her hair. She jerked her head away from him and grabbed my hand.

"I want the small one, she's feisty," a dark haired one of my right said, eyeing Alice.

Alice made some sort of gagging noise, and scrunched up her nose. "Touch me again and you'll lose a nut."

"She is feisty," the tall one agreed.

"Don't fight it," the dark one said, taking a step toward Alice.

"Dips on the brunette," I heard the tall one tell the guy lurking in the back.

"Fuck off," I sneered and took a step backwards.

"That's okay," he said, walking towards me, "I like a fight."

"If you take one more step towards me I will fucking slug you," I told him evenly.

He laughed as he took another step.

I reached into my bag and took another step back. Being the daughter of the Chief of Forks, I had grown up being slightly cautious and Charlie had forced it into my head to always carry pepper spray or brass knuckles. When I had tried to explain I'd probably end up in jail for the brass knuckles he had decided on the pepper spray.

I felt around as I watched Alice back away slightly from the dark haired kid, while that last kid was still behind with a camera in his hands, recording us getting trapped.

_Holy fucking shit. _

I broke out into a sweat, despite the below freezing temperature. My hand searched more urgently and I felt cool brick pressed behind my back.

"Don't run away from me," he crooned and was within a few feet of me.

My hand wrapped around the cool container and I nearly smiled as I fingered the tab. "I said fuck off!" I wretched my hand out of my purse and pushed the button for release of the mace, right in the dude's face.

"FUCK!" he yelled. He held up his hand and covered his eyes. "Fuck, it's burning!"

I grabbed Alice's hand and tugged her behind me while I aimed it at the guy who was leering at her. "Fuck off otherwise I'll hit you with it too."

He laughed lowly. "I'm not scared of mace."

My hand trembled as he kept walking closer. I knew the can wasn't full; I shook it slightly and heard a little bit of liquid moving around in the tin container.

But then, there was the sound of tires screeching and when I snapped my head up, I saw a very familiar silver car making a spur of the moment U-turn in the middle of the street. I blinked, and there it was, coming to a halt right in front of us and suddenly the driver's door was wrenched open.

"What the fuck is going on?" Edward yelled as he walked around his car. "Bella? Alice?" he looked at our forms, my hand outstretched with mace, the dude on the ground still crying, and then the other two.

He walked in front of us protectively. "Get in the car," he told us.

"Edward—" Alice squeaked.

"Get in the fucking car," he said again.

We walked away cautiously, but didn't get in the car. Instead we just stood next to is on the other side and watched.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Edward growled at the two standing guys.

"Chill out man, we weren't doing any harm—"

"That's why your buddy here has mace in his eye," he said, rolling his eyes.

"We just wanted to talk to them," the one with the camera smiled, and it made my stomach turn.

Edward fisted his hands at his sides and probably counted to ten in his head. "I'm going to give you to three, before I start fucking you up."

The guy with the camera walked up so they were both side by side standing in front of Edward. "I'm not sure that's a good idea for you man. When we take you down, who's going to protect your girls?"

Edward laughed, but it was hollow. "We'll see. One," he said sternly. The two guys didn't move. "Two," he counted.

The other two started backing up slowly. "Three," he said softly. Edward sighed dramatically, and while the dude in front of him was laughing and looking at the guy with the camera, Edward hit him square in the jaw.

Alice shrieked and clung to me, as we watched the main guy recover quickly and get in a fairly good shot at Edward's eye. Edward groaned and punched him in the temple, making the guy stagger backwards and land on his ass.

The boy that was holding the camera dropped it, before trying to get in on the action. Alice buried her head into my shoulder like she couldn't bear to watch it, while I found I couldn't look away.

Edward was a fighter; that was much was easy to tell. He was agile and obviously had speed over build, but wasn't that quick. He received a fist to the mouth before he pushed the guy back, reaching inside his coat pocket for something.

"Whoa, man. We're just being friendly," the guy on the ground whined, wincing as he touched his eye.

Edward spit out some blood at the their feet. "Then I'd suggest getting friendly with someone else. And favorably a chick who isn't pregnant."

Alice was quivering in my arms. I was shaking too, although at the moment I couldn't tell if the vibrations were from me or her.

"She's knocked up?" the guy I had sprayed with mace groaned.

Edward never relaxed as he glared at the guys, even though his jaw and eye had to be in pain. One of the guys held up his hands in defeat, standing and backing away slowly.

Edward reached into his pocket again, and a flicker of fear flashed across the guys' faces. "Okay, dude we get the picture. We're leaving."

They stood and started walking briskly, before running and barely giving us a second glance. Edward stood still, glowering at the departing forms, before he turned around and punched the brick building. He swore loudly while delivering another punch to the brick wall before turning to us, with his eyes narrowed to slits.

"What the _fuck_ were you two thinking?" he sneered at us.

Alice couldn't contain her worry any longer. "Are you okay?" she gasped, bringing her head up to stare at him.

Edward glared at us, and then spat out some more blood from his lip. "Peachy," he growled. He started towards us, snapping again, "What were you thinking?"

"We were walking home," I answered shakily. "We had dinner with Jake…Alice told him and he freaked and we left him there…"

He rubbed his cheek bone right underneath his eye and winced. "It's fucking freezing outside and I know you live at least fifteen minutes away by car."

"I know, it was stupid—"

"Stupid doesn't begin to cover it. You realized you could have just been raped or killed?" He groaned loudly at us. "And I thought I told you guys to get in the fucking car."

I scowled at him; I was grateful that he had showed up and I felt bad he got a fat lip, but he didn't have to be our knight in shining armor. We were big girls and could have managed ourselves.

"Edward—"

Edward pushed his hands through his hair and hissed. "I'm not in the mood to fucking argue. Get in the car."

"Don't tell me what to do, Edward."

"Bella," he said, his voice low and dangerous. I gazed up at him and noticed in the dimly lit street that his normally green eyes looked damn near pitch black. "Get in the car or I will fucking put you in it."

"You wouldn't dare."

He laughed darkly. "After the day I just had? Don't test me." He grabbed my arm roughly at my wrist and pushed me towards the car. "Get in."

"Why?"

"So I can make sure you get home without something happening. Goddamn, you attract conflict like a magnet, you know that?"

Alice already opened the backseat of his Volvo. "Bells, please get in."

Edward tightened his grip on me, to the point that it actually hurt and I whimpered in pain. I looked up as headlights approached us, signaling another car was coming down the street, the first time someone had ventured on this road since that whole exchange.

Jake's Rabbit slowed to a stop in front us, and he jumped out, the car still on and his driver's door still open. "Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Edward narrowed his eyes at Jake. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Jacob Black," Jake said hotly. "Who are you?"

"Edward Cullen."

Edward's name meant absolutely nothing to Jake, so when he nodded slightly I was confused. But Jake's name meant everything to Edward.

"You're Jake," he gritted through clenched teeth, still squeezing my wrist. "You're the guy they were having dinner with."

"Yeah—"

"You're the guy," Edward ground out, "that let two twenty year old girls walk home downtown in the dark?"

Jake bit his lower lip and looked a little ashamed. "Look, they walked out on me. I paid the bill as fast as I could and came after them."

"Not fucking fast enough," Edward growled. He still clutched my wrist tightly, probably leaving bruises on my fair skin.

Jake stared for a moment, then shook his head. "Who do you think you are?"

Edward's lips parted slightly as he thought for an acceptable answer. "I'm…Jasper Hale's best friend."

"Who the fuck is Jasper?"

Edward jutted his chin out towards Alice but didn't say anything. Jake turned even redder, if it was even possible.

"Oh, you're his best friend, so that makes you so important, and immediately you're supposed to be protecting them, right? Let me tell you this, Bells and Alice are like my little sisters. I would never let anything happen to them—"

"So that's why I pulled up on them almost getting raped, isn't it?" Edward squeezed my wrist again, and this time I couldn't stop the cry that left my lips.

"Edward," I whispered, feeling the beginnings to tears form.

"You're hurting her!" Jake yelled.

Edward let go of my wrist so fast it was though I had burned him. He stared at me for a minutes, his eyes traveling my face as if he was searching for something. He mumbled a quick, "Sorry," before Alice spoke.

"Jake, we're fine. Really, I promise. I just want to get out of here," she pleaded, looking at either Jake or Edward to take us away from the dark alley.

Jake cleared his throat. "I'll take you girls home."

Alice hesitated, shuffling her hundred and seventy dollar boots against the pavement. She looked up at Edward through her lashes, biting her lower lip. He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Is…is Jasper home?" she asked timidly.

Edward nodded slowly. She inhaled deeply. "Do you think…he would care if I came over? I just…" she trailed off. "I don't want to be alone."

Even though she was going to be with me the rest of the night, I knew what she meant. She wanted someone to hold her, and I was fairly certain Jasper would hold his baby mama after something like this.

Edward grinned crookedly like he was triumphant or something, and assured her, "No, he wouldn't mind it at all."

Alice smiled and nodded, looking up at me and mouthing, "Come, please."

I rolled my eyes. Yes, she wanted to go to Jasper because she was scared, but I didn't have anyone to run to. But I was a faithful wing-woman, so I nodded, because even if I had to spend the night hanging out with Edward, it was a lot better than sitting in my apartment alone and paranoid.

I smiled at Jake. "I'll call you tomorrow, Jake."

He felt like shit, it was apparent on his face. And I felt like shit for not being able to take it away from him. But he nodded, kissed both Alice and my head's before walking back to his car and pulling out into the road.

Alice crawled in the back, so I took shot gun. Edward pulled the car back into drive, his right hand flowing over the gears fluidly. I chewed on my cheek, watching the surroundings begin to blur together as he accelerated.

As we passed underneath a light post, I glanced down at console for his iPod and felt my stomach turn.

His knuckles were completely busted. I saw him punch the wall once out of frustration, but I didn't think that it would have cut him up that badly. But the skin was ripped open, and blood was red and vibrant against his skin. I looked up at his face but couldn't see the damage, since he had been hit on his left side.

"You're bleeding," I noted.

His lips pulled up slightly. "Aren't you observant?"

"Why'd you stop?"

He shifted gears and grunted at me. "What kind of person would drive past two girls in that position and _not _stop?" He sighed heavily, probably trying to calm down. "Some sick fuck, that's who. Imagine my surprise when it's you two that got yourselves in that position," he added with an eye roll.

"We didn't need rescuing," I began.

He held up his hand to silence me, before pinching the bridge of his nose as he slowed for a red light.

"But for what it's worth," I continued, "thank you."

He turned his head slightly to look at me, his eyes drinking me in. The light flashed green in front of us, but he didn't make any attempt to move.

"Light's green," I muttered, embarrassed.

He turned back and put the car in gear and pulled away. We didn't speak again until we were a few blocks from his apartment, and Alice stomach growled loudly.

I groaned at the thought of our food still sitting in the box on the sidewalk.

Edward changed lanes. "What?"

"We never got to eat," Alice said, her voice full of remorse.

He looked up in his rear view mirror at her. "I'll make you something when we get inside."

My brows furrowed. "You can cook?"

He pretended to be offended for a moment before he chuckled. "Yes, I can cook. It's one of my vast amounts of talents, Snow White."

I blushed and smiled, shaking my head. I glanced back at Alice, but she was obliviously tapping away at her cell phone. We pulled into his parking garage and he helped us both out of the car, keeping his hand at the small of either Alice's or my back.

We rode up to his apartment in silence. Edward was humming something softly that I really couldn't hear because Alice kept breathing heavily.

After a minute, Edward looked down at me and frowned. "Are you still cold?"

"No…"

He looked perplexed. "You're shaking, Bella."

I hadn't even noticed the trembling. "I'm fine, probably just shock."

He frowned at me and his brows furrowed together like he was thinking of something really hard, but he never said anything. The elevator chimed and the doors slid open, Edward gesturing with his right arm for us to walk in front of him.

He fumbled with the keys and unlocked it, allowing us inside where Jasper was already on the couch with a beer in his hand and his feet kicked up on the coffee table.

"Finally," Jasper whined, not tearing his eyes from the television. Alice and I walked in after Edward, as he pulled off his coat and threw his keys on the dining table. "I though you'd died or—" he glanced up and his jaw dropped. "What the fuck happened to your face?"

Alice stepped out from behind Edward and smiled sheepishly. "Alice! Bella!" Jasper greeted us with a tense smile. He glanced over at Edward. Edward's jaw was taut, and his eyes were narrowed. He gave a slight jerk to his head towards the kitchen and turned away.

"Why don't you ladies make yourselves comfortable?" Jasper offered, already up and half way to the kitchen. "We'll only be a moment."

I plopped down on the couch, feeling exhausted. Alice sat down timidly to my right, crossing her ankles and looking around the apartment apprehensively. We could hear the harsh whispers coming from the boys in the kitchen as they argued.

Jasper emerged a moment later, sitting himself next to Alice and draping an arm around her shoulders. "Want to watch a movie?" he asked us.

He flicked the television to HBO where some movie was playing and slouched down into the couch, taking Alice with him as he held her. I sat for a minute, feeling like the most obvious third wheel, when I heard clattering in the kitchen and the fridge opening and closing.

I walked towards the noise and saw Edward standing in front of the stove, his back facing me. I walked in and my heels scraped against the floor to alert him of my presence. He turned his head and glanced at me, before he pulled a small glass from his cabinet and set it down next to an open bottle of liquor.

I noticed he had a half full glass of the amber liquid by his left hand.

"Do you think drinking solves everything?"

His shoulders hunched, as he leaned against the counter to support himself. "Normally, I'd love to argue with you, but I'm just too fucking tired right now." He ran his good hand through his hair, making me notice that his bad hand still was bleeding. "It'll help the nerves."

Honestly, I didn't want to fight now either. I was too tired—too drained. So I picked up the bottle and poured me a glass of the warm liquid, sipping on it. "What are you making?" I nodded towards the pots and pans, interested.

"Spaghetti." He dumped some spaghetti noodles into the boiling water as he got a pan heated with olive oil.

"Who taught you how to cook?" I asked.

"Esme," he answered after a slight hesitation. "She always said that it would be a desirable trait and I'd thank her later on."

"She was right," I murmured, hoping he wouldn't hear but I think he did because he smirked.

I looked at his hand again and winced. "You need to bandage that."

"I've endured worse."

I set my glass down and scowled at him. "Bandages?"

He made a gesture to the sink as he opened the package of ground beef with a knife.

He dumped the meat into the hot skillet, breaking it up with a wooden spoon and stirring it around to brown it. He occasionally would reach into the cabinet to his left and grab a spice or something to add to the meat. "How's the wrist?" he asked, not looking at me.

I clutched the first aid box to my chest as I examined my left wrist. "I've endured worse."

His lips tugged up slightly as he looked at me. "Come here," I instructed, and he laughed muttering a _yes ma'am._

I took his hand gingerly in mine and looked up at his face. His lip was cut on the left and slightly swollen, while his eye was red and probably have a bruise in the morning.

"You didn't have to get beat up, you know," I joked, holding the white gauze in place and wrapping it around his knuckles.

He laughed without humor. "You have no idea."

I continued to wrap him up until the bandage ran out and pinned it to stay closed. He flexed his fingers and cracked his knuckles before he hissed out in pain and I slapped his chest.

"Did you think it would tickle?" I snapped. He glared at me and turned back to the food, but I eyed his swollen lip. "Hang on." I turned and rummaged through their freezer until I found a bag of frozen peas.

"Peas?" he laughed.

"Shut up," I told him. I reached towards him and turned his face back towards me, my hand gingerly touching his cheek as I softly pressed the peas to his eye.

He winced and licked his lips, starring at me with wide green eyes.

"Is that better?" I whispered.

Edward nodded slowly, his eyes roaming over my face. "Thanks," he rasped. "Do you normally find yourself with bloody knuckles and a fat lip?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "No, I'm just accident prone. I know how to take care of stuff like this. I was a really clumsy kid and my dad wasn't around too much...so…yeah." I cleared my throat awkwardly because I was sure I'd given out information that wasn't welcome. But Edward just stared back at me with his brows furrowed.

"That's a shame," he muttered from behind the bag.

I pulled the frozen peas away for a moment, letting my thumb gently brush against his cut lip. His brow raised and for a second, he just stared at me. He leaned his head in towards my hand slightly, closing the small amount of distance that was between our faces. For a fraction of a second, I swore he was going to kiss me. Hell, I wanted him to kiss me. I wasn't sure why I did, but his lips parted and I was fairly certain that neither of us were breathing.

But then he shifted uncomfortably and I moved the peas to his mouth. He wrapped his fingers around my hand, narrowing his eyes at me. It felt like his skin burned mine, with how quickly I retracted it. I let go of the bag and backed away, picking up my drink as some sort of security.

"Whatever you're making in there smells good!" Jasper called out.

Edward broke his gaze from me and laughed nervously. "Yeah well It's not for you, asshole," he barked out.

_I'm not sure what just happened._ I looked at my thumb, then at my feet. My head was beginning to hurt.

I watched him move around the kitchen fluidly, jealousy creeping over me. He seemed so at ease, while I was a tense mess behind a stove. I could barely cook a grilled cheese without burning it.

He drained the pasta and glanced over at me from underneath his lashes. "You cook?"

I shook my head. "No," I laughed softly. "No way. I'm a terrible cook."

He held my gaze for another beat, before repeating his earlier words. "That's a shame."

I was confused by the reaction, but decided I was still too traumatized to think about it.

He finished cooking and he gave both Alice and I heaping portions, and gave himself some as the four of us sat down to watch the movie.

Edward kept refilling my glass and soon enough I was fuzzy and wasn't jumpy as I had been. He kept the bag on his lip and eye throughout the whole night, until I eventually found out that Alice had passed out on the couch.

Jasper got up, gently waking Alice as he did. He glanced over at Edward, who was running his fingers over his broken lip. "Can I take your car to take them home?"

Edward nodded, still lost in though. He rose and whispered, "Good night, Snow White," as Jasper pulled a half awake Alice through the door.

"Good night, Zorro," I giggled.

He grinned slightly and shook his head before I shut the door behind me. As the three of us trudged down the stairs, my mind was on overdrive. I wasn't really sure what was happening. Everything that I had known or started to know was getting thrown into a whirlwind, and getting turned upside down. Alice was having a baby with Jasper, the hot southern dude who rode a motorcycle. And then there was Edward, the same boy that I had wanted to kill this morning, had just made me want to kiss him tonight. I detested his company, yet I kind of enjoyed it, too.

I was in so much shit.

***

_There are two sides to every story. Sometimes, all you see is what people choose to show you._


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